Pregnancy and Drugs and Jail

For my topic of choice I have decided to talk about things we have been talking about in my social problems class. The issue of drug use or other harmful agents during pregnancy. A women can be put in prison for snorting cocaine or smoking crack while pregnant if the child is harmed or not, but nothing is done to the mother of a child born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Are the two not on the same level as far as harming an unborn fetus. Why does our society chose to accept smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol? Maybe it just might be because our society makes billions of dollars off of it. All are drugs and all addictive: alcohol, cocaine, cigarettes, marijuana, crack, meth, ecstasy, and so much more, but our society has only made substances they can not tax illegal. It bothers me personally that a women is punished for harming her unborn fetus in one way but not an other. If the child really doesn’t mean enough to you that you would take care of and protect it than you should have had an abortion. Just like you chose to snort a line of cocaine you chose to keep your child. Also if a mother is choosing to do drugs while pregnant than what kind of parent are they going to be. Its not necessarily setting the child up for a promising future, if there mother cares so little about them, if there mother is addicted to drugs, or if there parent had the lifestyle of doing drugs.

Facebook..Evil or Magnificent??

I read this piece believing in the idea that facebook is a great tool for interacting with “friends”. I never was exposed to the whole concept of facebook till the summer before I began college. I used other similar internet sites like myspace, yahoo and hi5, so I was not completely oblivious to the concept. But after joining the website I realized that it is a great way to connect with people. It is easy to find people unlike other websites like it and is easy to understand. I like the last argument the writer made with the women who swore by hating facebook and that it was a waste of time, then it said she now had a facebook and two hundred and something friends.

When I read this piece on facebook as I doubter I could see how the piece could still not convince a reader. The concept that we spend enough time in front of our computers throughout the day, why spend any of our free time in front of a computer. Also why should those who do not choose to participate in the facebook craze feel like are separate or doing something wrong. Facebook is not the only way to connect with people, giving an e-mail or phone number is just as good. I can see it as a time consuming waste of my time and why would you want people you barely know to be able to know and see what is going on in your personal life.

The American Dream?? To Me

To me The American Dream is having a happy life and family. I do not believe it is having material possessions, about how much money you make or what position you hold in society. I believe our country puts way to much emphasis on material things and “keeping up with the Joneses.” Having material things, while seems great in theory, it does not automatically mean happiness. I will feel as though I have achieved The American Dream as long as my family and I are happy, even if I’m not a millionaire or the head of my own company. I do not want to constantly have to feel like I should strive to look good to everyone else or to put down my coworker to get that promotion or make that little bit more money. As long as my family is happy and content I will feel I am a successful American. I do relies that in order to have this dream it does require making a comfortable amount of money at a average job, that will probably require some form of education beyond high school. In the world today education beyond high school has become like an assumed pathway to not be below the poverty level. But as long as you have a job that makes you happy that’s the job you should choose. Just because being a business major or on the track to becoming a lawyer may make you a lot of money in the future doesn’t mean it will leave you loving your life.