HW 25 - Response to Sicko

          The movie Sicko stuck out to me, and taught me things about America and other countries that I never knew before.  I never knew that Hilary Clinton was actually here to help us that much by trying to get free health care like France and Canada have according to the movie.  The movie said that She wanted to make America first in the worldwide healthcare system, but we ended up falling to number 36 because the other people in the office didn't want this law passed.  So it was not allowed for people to mention Free healthcare in the white house.  The Movie Sicko taught us that health care isn't really health care, because when you care for somebody because they need it because they are sick, you don't care about the time it takes, you care about there life and well-being, but in this health care system, the only thing that they really care about is the money they make, so they usually tell somebody who desperately needs help the answer no just because they don't have the money.
          According to the movie, there was one coupe, where the lady's husband had gotten a heart attack, then another one, and then another one.  So that was expensive for them with all of his trips to the hospital. Then when they thought that nothing could of gotten worse, she got diagnosed with cancer,. and pretty soon after nearly going bankrupt, they could no longer afford there house, so the only option was to move in with there daughter.  This connects back to my thesis because she really needed help, and with all of the expenses due to her illness, the government didn't really care, if they didn't give them money (taxes) they had to get out of the house.  Another piece that was in the movie was a family that was doing really well, but one day, this ladies husband, got diagnosed with kidney cancer, they went to the doctor and said that they were able to do a transplant.  It looked like a happy day for this man, but then the doctors took a look at his records and denied him for a transplant because they didn't have the money.  A couple days had passed, and the husband went to sleep, and then after died.  This also relates to my thesis because due to not enough money, a man lost his life, and the company dindn't even seem affected by it, until one women spoke out, and said that she was the one who denied the man's plans for a kidney, thus resulting in his death.
          This movie impacted me because before I knew America wasn't perfect, but they tried to make it a good system but now I know that America says things like we will take care of you but, they are really saying let me hold your wallet forever.  The government will always find a way to make sure that you give up your money, even if they make some peope go into debt, they don't care.  There slogan probably says, money can buy anything.  To them money represents power like I can do anything I want because we have more money than all of you. 

HW 24 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 3

          I am currently on page 109, and so far.  Mithc was on his way to Morrie's house, and is greeted not by Connie as he usually is, but by Charlotte, Morrie's wife. In keeping with Morrie's wishes, Charlotte has kept her job as a professor at M.I.T., and Mitch is surprised to find her at home. She tells Mitch that Morrie isn't having a good day, and also admits that he can no longer eat the food that Mitch brings him each week, as he can only ingest soft food and liquids. Morrie hadn't told him, as he hadn't wanted to hurt Mitch's feelings. Ch arlotte seems despondent, and Mitch attributes her distant look to her exhaustion, as she often is up throughout the night with Morrie when he cannot sleep. Morrie's condition had been decreasing rapidly, and now there are home health care workers working 24-hour shifts to care for him. Mitch notices the many pill bottles that line the kitchen table.  Morrie is now coughing more violently than ever and struggles for breath as he talks with Mitch. He explains to Mitch that he is consciously "detaching himself from the experience," and explains the Buddhist philosophy that one should not cling to things because everything that exists is impermanent.
          I feel that Morrie and his wife have a special connection where they are able to sense when either one of them in trouble.  Becuase just for Morrie's wife Charlotte to show up unexpected, there is a reason for her apperance.  I think that Morrie's time might come sooner than expeccted, becuase it is still to soon for him to be this sick

HW 23 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 2

          I am currently on page 91, and basically what I have read so far is that it is another semester the the university where Morrie has been currently teaching.  But due to his illness, Morrie is more weak than he has ever been in his life,  So he isn't able to move around without using a wheelchair.  Know he spends his reamaing days on earth talking about his past and giving advice to the younger generation.  Basically he and Mitch were discussing children and does he regret having them.  Morrie said, "There is no other experience like having children"!  He also was saying how if he could relive the process, he would do it again and again.  I have a couple of predictions about what is to further come in the book.  I believe that as time goes on and Morrie's illness starts to take its toll, Morrie will still try and make the best of his remaining time left on the earth becuase the illness takes his life, Morrie doesn't need to be active to have fun, Morrie likes to write and talk, and as long as he has Mitch to talk to, I'll think that he will be just fine.
          I am actually suprised on how Morrie is dealing with his illness.  It touches me becuase, when he found out he was sick and probably going to die, he had second thoughts on life, and continued to do his daily ruitine, it was almost like he didn't have hi illness.  Morrie didn't feal like God had forgotten him, he accepted that everyone was going to die at somepoint, and his was just a little bit sooner than everyone elses, and he has accepted that.  He said a quote that really got me thinking, and that was once people accept the fact that thy are going to die, they can start living.  And this quote to me was people think too much about when and how they are going to die, but once you accept the fact and son't care how you are going to die, you can make the best of your life and do the things you were probably originally not planned to do. 

HW 21b - Comments

Larche G said...

Willie,

I thought you listed some good insights from the guest speaker that you could have talked about further. I liked how in your first paragraph you connected with some of the things the speaker said when your grandfather died. However, the assignment was to write three paragraphs addressing the insights you got from the speaker and your own thoughts /connections regarding them. I definitely think you could have expanded on your thoughts and made further connections by writing more about your experiences with illness or death. You were off to a good start.

Kayla R said...

Willie,
I thnk you did a good job with connections. Connecting it to personal life is always a good way to help the reader understand what the author might be going through. Especially for someone that has never read this book. Maybe you could try like more connections. Like connections to you, or to the world or to another book you have read. Maybe put more of your opnion in there along with the facts. I liked how you gave facts so we can get a better interpretation of the book. You did a good job. Also maybe try some predictions on what you think this could lead to in life, and why this could be happeneing. Good job thought

HW 22 - Illness & Dying Book Part 1

          The book I am reading is Tuesday's with Morrie, and so far it is about a guy who has a major illness and the doctors gave him about 2 years to live.  But over the course of those months in the first year, Morrie has made the best of it.  He still had continued his daily routine as a teacher in a university.  But he was going to retire anyway due to his illness.  He had told his students as soon as he got into the classroom.  As the time went by Morrie had lost a lot of weight and had gotten so skinny that it looks like you were able to see his bones.  And soon after that he wasn't able to do things on his own, he was too weak. 
          Basically the story was a flashback within a flashback, it was almost told from his perspective, but it wasn't, and after each chapter, there would be another flashback within the flashback that shows his years in high school.  A quote that I found interesting n the book was, :finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girlwhom I notice almost always wears bulky white fisherman sweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her chest, leans back, and does not flinch, like one of those lipton tea commercials where the model splashes into the pool.  Basically I chose this quote because I thought that it was saying don't believe what your eyes tell you.  Your eyes will lie to you.  See with your body, not your eyes.  This quote was on pages 60-61.

HW 21 - Expert #1

          While listening to the story about her husband, there were a couple of things that I thought were very interesting.  Those things were...
- was how he never had a bad illness in the past before the illness he had now
- he was one of those men who didn't go to the doctor as soon as they felt something wrong, and it wasn't entirely his fault because something was wrong with there insurance, so he couldn't go until 11 months had passed (how long it took to get insured).
- It wasn't one big long rush of pain and sickness, one time he might of felt bad and weak, and at another time, he could of felt really good, like she said he was well enough to go on the family vacation to play mini-golf, but then after, he asked for a oxygen tank.
- In the whole time he was sick, they never talked about death, and didn't even mention it.
- She had no less respect for death after he died.
          I can connect some of these things to myself because for one thing, before my grandfather died, I would pray to god not to take him, and I would do this every night, then one day my mom got that phone call and my grandmother said, that's it, he is gone, at first, I didn't know what to feel, it felt like a big hole inside of me where all of my emotions would just pour out into I was a hollow shell of emptyness.

HW 20 - Thinking/Writing Groups

1)
Willie Rich
wwandthechocofactory@gmail.com
http://treystar3.blogspot.com/

2)
Older: sister-cin.anthony@gmail.com
Younger: sister-bsgrule511@gmail.com

3)
Older: Cineca
Younger: Kayla

HW 19 - Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying

         When I asked my mom about illness, and dying, she said that I should protect my body, and take care of, because if you don't, it is just a bomb of sickness waiting to explode at any moment.  She knows that everyone is going to die eventually, and has accepted that.  And if you were good on earth, God will reach his hand out and welcome you to his gateway of heave, and if you weren't like you have murdered and raped people, then you are not welcome to go to heaven.  Then I had a lot to think about because I also have opinions on dying.  Why are we even put on earth just to be taken away at some part of your life, whether it is early or later than expected.  It is really confusing to think about what happens when you die, it is almost impossible to think about