We're learning about "Morality" vocabulary in class. I've got this vocabulary text book, and it tells me what words I'm supposed to teach them. I always end up teaching them more than they asked for, but as my wise friend once said, "You've got to spend your time somehow."
So we discussed our religions or lack thereof and how they affect our "moral choices" in life. Most people identified themselves as Christian, Buddhist or Muslim, with only four people saying they had no religion. When questioned further, the vast majority of them admitted they weren't technically "practicing" their religion carefully. Some even contradicted their supposed religion when they stated their actual beliefs about how to act in life.
When someone stated their religion, I asked them if there was anything they could think of that their religion has guided them to, as in some choice they've had to make in life. Most people brought up something that most religions and societies teach, such as loving other people, or not drinking too much, and things like that. Several Japanese students who said they weren't associated with any religion said that they learned it all in a special "ethics" class from the public school, or in one case, a Buddhist school and then a Christian school, although neither stuck.
Near the completion of class I brought up 10 "ethical" issues that I hear about in the chatter of American society. I did not choose them based on whether or not I thought they should be moral issues, but more based on what I frequently hear argued about during political campaigns, as complaints from religions, or by friends who support various popular causes to improve the world in the best way they see fit.
I took an anonymous survey where I brought up the question and then had them write on a numbered sheet of paper if they thought it was "good", "bad" or "Okay/I don't care".
My class of 20-30 something year old's from various cultures ranked these "ethical questions" from worst to not so bad as follows:
From Worst to Best:
1. Eating so much that you become obese
2. Driving over the speed limit
3. Buying clothing from companies that use sweatshop child labor
4. Abortion
5. Drinking to excess
6. Smoking marijuana
7. Tie: Gay marriage and Watching pornography
9. Tie (with zero "Bad" votes): Eating Meat and Masturbating
The top 3 in the list were the only ones that received significant amounts of "bad" votes. I wonder if I had done a sufficient job clarifying the "moral" nature of the issue ("Is it morally wrong to do this?") versus the personal health/best interest side of the issue ("Well yeah, of course it's not good to eat so much you become obese").
Barely anyone thought gay marriage or watching pornography was wrong, although a few of the 20 votes cast did think so. Most votes on all issues tended to be "okay/don't care".
The most "good" votes came for eating meat (and no "bad" votes, interestingly), with gay marriage second.
Once again, it was an anonymous survey, and they were given the issues one at a time, as opposed to ranking them. Also, they were all international students, and none of them Americans, as clearly evidenced by their selections of "eating too much" and "speeding" as the gravest of sins.
Remember the woman who lived upstairs from me and had the bipolar boyfriend I wrote about in "Shine Your Light"? Well, now I am convinced that she can be equally bipolar and manipulative and nasty. Also, when I got home from class, I found out she moved out today after being evicted.
I feel a little bad, because I don't like to see anyone down on their luck, and I remember how long I was without a place to be and how much that can bear on your psyche. That being said, she really stressed out most of the people in the house, and especially me since I lived the floor below and could hear the stomping and yelling very clearly. Even so, I never made a formal complaint to the manager or landlord, so I know that it was the house's will, not mine, that decided her fate.
I remember when I first moved in I had no furniture, not even a bed. All I had was my camping mat, sleeping bag and small camping pillow. My roommate, who had also recently moved in, had so many things that she spread them all over the common space in the house, and you had to be very careful when walking through the hallway not to bump into her framed paintings and such. Many of them were there for over a month.
Among them were two golden Buddha faces. After a few weeks I decided that the Buddha looked lonely, and I wasn't even sure if they were hers or someone else who had moved out and left them there, so I put one in my room to remind me that the "Buddha" was everywhere. I am not a Buddhist, but I mostly understand the core ideas as they could be applied to my experience with life. I liked the idea that even though I had very little materially at the time, I still had worlds inside me, and even though I lived in an ugly apartment near the freeway, the future contained all the possibilities I wanted it to if I was willing to see the Buddha beauty all around me.
I had it in my room for weeks, and then one day I decided to take an Egyptian hieroglyphic one which I kept bumping into and appreciate it in my room since it wasn't getting any attention in the hallway. Within five minutes I got a knock on my door from my roommate, hysterically complaining that she'd been robbed. When I asked what it was about and found out, I opened the door to show her, and explained the misunderstanding. She was relieved instead of angry. I really did think they had been left behind by some other tenant at that point, because who would be so audacious as to fill the hallways of a house with ten people with a stream of their belongings for over a month? I gave both back quickly, and even made a smiling little speech/comment about not needing to own the Buddha because it was everywhere, but she kept going on and on about how valuable it was and wanting to sell it. Her friend was with her at the time. She was a nice woman I talked to in the kitchen from time to time, and when she saw how I had basically nothing in my room, she tried to convince my roommate to let it go, but she was very hung up on the issue. She wasn't angry at me, but she wanted her Buddha back.
Today, after they moved out her stuff, I walked into her room. There were still several paintings hanging on the wall. I immediately noticed the golden Buddha, amongst many other fancy possessions. Just last week I'd had to break up a fight between her and her boyfriend over him supposedly breaking her TV, and had to stop her from screaming "it doesn't get ANY worse than this!" To be fair, it was exclaimed in the same rant about getting evicted. But she was really mad about that TV.
10 days ago I found a huge TV on the street with a "free" sign and carried it down the hill to my room. It must have weighed 70 or 80 lbs., with barely any grips. I don't have a TV hook-up, but I thought I might connect it to my laptop. Unfortunately the inputs were inoperative, so I'd done all of that work for nothing. I still have the TV, but I use it as the back rest for my chair. I also found the chair on the street. It reclines too far though, so it's good to have the TV on my coffee table behind it so I can lean on it and sit up straight.
Yesterday my laptop touch pad for navigation froze up, and I thought I was going to have to send it back to get it fixed and wait for weeks and use library computers until then. I called my computer techie cousin to get the run down, and he said to start it in safe mode, which I knew how to do, but that didn't work. I still couldn't move the arrow or click on anything. So I just let it go and did something else. Then this morning I tried the old "take the battery out and put it back in again" trick and started it in safe mode with networking as opposed to just safe mode, and one of the two fixed the problem. If my laptop died I'd be mad, but I've already had one burglarized, back in Brooklyn, so I know that what really matters is I'm okay.
A few weeks ago I found out from one mechanic in the city that my car needed repairs totalling $2500, and the inspection was expiring. I couldn't afford that, so it looked like I was going to have to give up my car and, therefore, my canoe. I was patient and eventually found a mechanic out of town who charged me $575 for everything, and now I have a car again.
I wouldn't want to get evicted, because it's hard without a home. And I wouldn't want certain of my possessions to be gone forever either. But what's truly important in this world is what you have inside of you and how that connects you to the world around you.
I've learned how to live without close family or friends around me for almost a year, but without the excitement of knowing I'm in a foreign country. I'm just another American with a job and an apartment. When I see my family again, it will mean a lot more to me than anything I could possess materially.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no ascetic. I'll always love the taste of food, assured quick access to information technology, and a vehicle that can move me to a beautiful place to be. But that's only one of many paths to being happy.
What really matters to me is to be happy and feel free.
I keep no balance sheet as to whether this happiness and freedom is made possible by something materially or spiritually.
So we discussed our religions or lack thereof and how they affect our "moral choices" in life. Most people identified themselves as Christian, Buddhist or Muslim, with only four people saying they had no religion. When questioned further, the vast majority of them admitted they weren't technically "practicing" their religion carefully. Some even contradicted their supposed religion when they stated their actual beliefs about how to act in life.
When someone stated their religion, I asked them if there was anything they could think of that their religion has guided them to, as in some choice they've had to make in life. Most people brought up something that most religions and societies teach, such as loving other people, or not drinking too much, and things like that. Several Japanese students who said they weren't associated with any religion said that they learned it all in a special "ethics" class from the public school, or in one case, a Buddhist school and then a Christian school, although neither stuck.
Near the completion of class I brought up 10 "ethical" issues that I hear about in the chatter of American society. I did not choose them based on whether or not I thought they should be moral issues, but more based on what I frequently hear argued about during political campaigns, as complaints from religions, or by friends who support various popular causes to improve the world in the best way they see fit.
I took an anonymous survey where I brought up the question and then had them write on a numbered sheet of paper if they thought it was "good", "bad" or "Okay/I don't care".
My class of 20-30 something year old's from various cultures ranked these "ethical questions" from worst to not so bad as follows:
From Worst to Best:
1. Eating so much that you become obese
2. Driving over the speed limit
3. Buying clothing from companies that use sweatshop child labor
4. Abortion
5. Drinking to excess
6. Smoking marijuana
7. Tie: Gay marriage and Watching pornography
9. Tie (with zero "Bad" votes): Eating Meat and Masturbating
The top 3 in the list were the only ones that received significant amounts of "bad" votes. I wonder if I had done a sufficient job clarifying the "moral" nature of the issue ("Is it morally wrong to do this?") versus the personal health/best interest side of the issue ("Well yeah, of course it's not good to eat so much you become obese").
Barely anyone thought gay marriage or watching pornography was wrong, although a few of the 20 votes cast did think so. Most votes on all issues tended to be "okay/don't care".
The most "good" votes came for eating meat (and no "bad" votes, interestingly), with gay marriage second.
Once again, it was an anonymous survey, and they were given the issues one at a time, as opposed to ranking them. Also, they were all international students, and none of them Americans, as clearly evidenced by their selections of "eating too much" and "speeding" as the gravest of sins.
Remember the woman who lived upstairs from me and had the bipolar boyfriend I wrote about in "Shine Your Light"? Well, now I am convinced that she can be equally bipolar and manipulative and nasty. Also, when I got home from class, I found out she moved out today after being evicted.
I feel a little bad, because I don't like to see anyone down on their luck, and I remember how long I was without a place to be and how much that can bear on your psyche. That being said, she really stressed out most of the people in the house, and especially me since I lived the floor below and could hear the stomping and yelling very clearly. Even so, I never made a formal complaint to the manager or landlord, so I know that it was the house's will, not mine, that decided her fate.
I remember when I first moved in I had no furniture, not even a bed. All I had was my camping mat, sleeping bag and small camping pillow. My roommate, who had also recently moved in, had so many things that she spread them all over the common space in the house, and you had to be very careful when walking through the hallway not to bump into her framed paintings and such. Many of them were there for over a month.
Among them were two golden Buddha faces. After a few weeks I decided that the Buddha looked lonely, and I wasn't even sure if they were hers or someone else who had moved out and left them there, so I put one in my room to remind me that the "Buddha" was everywhere. I am not a Buddhist, but I mostly understand the core ideas as they could be applied to my experience with life. I liked the idea that even though I had very little materially at the time, I still had worlds inside me, and even though I lived in an ugly apartment near the freeway, the future contained all the possibilities I wanted it to if I was willing to see the Buddha beauty all around me.
I had it in my room for weeks, and then one day I decided to take an Egyptian hieroglyphic one which I kept bumping into and appreciate it in my room since it wasn't getting any attention in the hallway. Within five minutes I got a knock on my door from my roommate, hysterically complaining that she'd been robbed. When I asked what it was about and found out, I opened the door to show her, and explained the misunderstanding. She was relieved instead of angry. I really did think they had been left behind by some other tenant at that point, because who would be so audacious as to fill the hallways of a house with ten people with a stream of their belongings for over a month? I gave both back quickly, and even made a smiling little speech/comment about not needing to own the Buddha because it was everywhere, but she kept going on and on about how valuable it was and wanting to sell it. Her friend was with her at the time. She was a nice woman I talked to in the kitchen from time to time, and when she saw how I had basically nothing in my room, she tried to convince my roommate to let it go, but she was very hung up on the issue. She wasn't angry at me, but she wanted her Buddha back.
Today, after they moved out her stuff, I walked into her room. There were still several paintings hanging on the wall. I immediately noticed the golden Buddha, amongst many other fancy possessions. Just last week I'd had to break up a fight between her and her boyfriend over him supposedly breaking her TV, and had to stop her from screaming "it doesn't get ANY worse than this!" To be fair, it was exclaimed in the same rant about getting evicted. But she was really mad about that TV.
10 days ago I found a huge TV on the street with a "free" sign and carried it down the hill to my room. It must have weighed 70 or 80 lbs., with barely any grips. I don't have a TV hook-up, but I thought I might connect it to my laptop. Unfortunately the inputs were inoperative, so I'd done all of that work for nothing. I still have the TV, but I use it as the back rest for my chair. I also found the chair on the street. It reclines too far though, so it's good to have the TV on my coffee table behind it so I can lean on it and sit up straight.
Yesterday my laptop touch pad for navigation froze up, and I thought I was going to have to send it back to get it fixed and wait for weeks and use library computers until then. I called my computer techie cousin to get the run down, and he said to start it in safe mode, which I knew how to do, but that didn't work. I still couldn't move the arrow or click on anything. So I just let it go and did something else. Then this morning I tried the old "take the battery out and put it back in again" trick and started it in safe mode with networking as opposed to just safe mode, and one of the two fixed the problem. If my laptop died I'd be mad, but I've already had one burglarized, back in Brooklyn, so I know that what really matters is I'm okay.
A few weeks ago I found out from one mechanic in the city that my car needed repairs totalling $2500, and the inspection was expiring. I couldn't afford that, so it looked like I was going to have to give up my car and, therefore, my canoe. I was patient and eventually found a mechanic out of town who charged me $575 for everything, and now I have a car again.
I wouldn't want to get evicted, because it's hard without a home. And I wouldn't want certain of my possessions to be gone forever either. But what's truly important in this world is what you have inside of you and how that connects you to the world around you.
I've learned how to live without close family or friends around me for almost a year, but without the excitement of knowing I'm in a foreign country. I'm just another American with a job and an apartment. When I see my family again, it will mean a lot more to me than anything I could possess materially.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no ascetic. I'll always love the taste of food, assured quick access to information technology, and a vehicle that can move me to a beautiful place to be. But that's only one of many paths to being happy.
What really matters to me is to be happy and feel free.
It's something I sense inside of me
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