Midnight Grocery Store Runs in America

We are known throughout the world as being materialistic, greedy, and obsessed with the here-and-now. This isn't too far off the mark, but i would argue that sometimes, all that isn't a bad thing. No one would argue against the point that the United States of America is the most powerful country in the world, and e got their through our culture of wanting to succeed. This is very different from other powerful cultures throughout the world, for example, Germany. The article "Bemused in America" explains the story of how one German man traveling in the US comes across many of our countries values, and the shock it gave him. Our grocery stores are open 24/7. Why? Because when we want something, we want it now and do not want to have to wait for the next day. This is completely different from Germany's 8pm closing law, and this particular German man seemed a little jealous. This is the freedom that we give to our citizens, to be able to get that quart of mint-chocolate ice cream at 2am, but we also pay a price; the world views us as obsessed with instant gratification, while simultaneously feeling jealous of our freedom.

How We Live

This week in sociology, we saw pictures of families from countries around the world outside their homes with their most prized possessions. I have traveled a lot in my life so far, Ive been to China, Japan, France, Israel, and I am going to Italy during spring break. I saw a lot on those trips but these pictures reminded me of what we take for granted. Some of these families slept on the ground, and one family even needed a soldier to help guard their possessions for the picture. The differences of these families really showed the technological gap between the United States, and other "western" countries, with the underdeveloped world. The difference in values and beliefs are very evident. I found that lesson to be very enlightening and I think that everyone should try to educate themselves to the culture and lifestyles of other around the world.

(Blog #5)

Passing Judgement

Everyday we meet new people, and the first thing we do is "size them up". That's become the acceptable term to use to describe judging people by their looks. This social interaction before any dialog occurs can change any future relationship between those people. Think about it the next time you meet someone. One of my best friends throughout my high school career, who is also in my sociology class, is one of those people that when you meet them your probably like...whoa..what is that guy wearing. I got to know him though, and it turned out that we would develop an extremely close friendship. He has decided to do whatever he wants and not care about what anyone else thinks. I could only wish to have his confidence, and I look up to him for that, as it has slowly given me increased confidence in myself. So that "sizing someone up" that people tend to do all too much in this society has, in my opinion, really gotten out of hand. What kind of shoes someone wears, or what brand clothes they wear do not define who they are as a person, and maybe We, as a society, need to stop passing judgment.