Last spring as I was choosing my choosing my classes for senior year, I wanted to just take the basic full credit classes as well as very easy electives. I didn’t want to push myself too hard during my senior year, especially since I had to juggle school, work, the daunting college process and my social life and still have time for myself. Fortunately, I had luck with some of my classes, and I am managing my time quite well. Before taking the Facing History course this semester, I spent most of my free time sleeping, watching TV or working out. But ever since the course started I have spent a lot of time thinking about current issues in the world, as well as what my beliefs are and what they conflict with. This elective unlike the others, pushed me. It has pushed me to think about everything in all kinds of perspectives, as well as reviewing my own wrongdoings. I have started to read the newspaper more often, watch the news, and I have even attended a few lectures at various Universities such as Northeastern and Clark University. I have been changing the way I view various types of people and on a few occasions I have even changed some people’s beliefs about certain races and cultures. I am more aware of how racism can hurt people, and why it occurs all the time around us. Thanks to this course I am more aware, and I am no longer a “by-stander” but I am a “rescuer” as Mr. Gallagher would say. Mr. Gallagher has really done a great job in teaching us about facing history, and I hope to carry his message and pass it on to others. I hope this course grows, because the world needs it now more than ever. The famous saying that history repeats itself is ever so true, and if people remain ignorant, history just may repeat itself.
The things I have learned in this class have helped me in my decisions about issues today. As Mr. Gallagher would say; “if you don’t believe something is true, research it”. So this year in English I decided to do my research project on the Arab-Israeli conflict. I had read The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz; I found it to be very biased and contradictory to what I was taught. So after my first week with Mr. Gallagher I decided to conduct more research on this topic. I read numerous articles and books, including The War on Islam. I found that a lot of the things in The Case for Israel were based more on opinion than fact. For example Alan Dershowitz contradicts the fact that Israel has taken more land from the Palestinians over the past 60 years. He says that Israel has shrunk, which is false based on this map:
http://psydewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/Individuality.jpg
The things I have learned in this class have helped me in my decisions about issues today. As Mr. Gallagher would say; “if you don’t believe something is true, research it”. So this year in English I decided to do my research project on the Arab-Israeli conflict. I had read The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz; I found it to be very biased and contradictory to what I was taught. So after my first week with Mr. Gallagher I decided to conduct more research on this topic. I read numerous articles and books, including The War on Islam. I found that a lot of the things in The Case for Israel were based more on opinion than fact. For example Alan Dershowitz contradicts the fact that Israel has taken more land from the Palestinians over the past 60 years. He says that Israel has shrunk, which is false based on this map:
http://z.about.com/d/middleeast/1/0/v/8/-/-/0723-occupation-israel-pale.jpg
As you can see as time goes on the state which used to be called Palestine, has shrunk to only a fraction of what is now present day Israel. If not for this class I might have just believe what The Case for Israel said and lost all my values. I appreciate this class even more for teaching me to have civic agency.
As you can see as time goes on the state which used to be called Palestine, has shrunk to only a fraction of what is now present day Israel. If not for this class I might have just believe what The Case for Israel said and lost all my values. I appreciate this class even more for teaching me to have civic agency.
http://www.mediabuzzard.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/LESVHome1.jpeg
Among the many things I learned in this class, one of the most important things was that my opinion counted. Mr. Gallagher would always tell us to stick to our opinions, and to not be afraid to voice them. I remember the first class I had with Mr.Gallagher, we read The Bear that Wasn’t and most of the students in the class blogged that night about how they loved the story and how they learned to keep their individuality because of it. Although that might be true for some, one student, Andrew LaBelle, wrote that he thought it was just a children’s book.
The next day Mr.Gallagher brought up that blog, and my first thought was that he was going to rip Andrew for making fun of his lesson. But to my surprise, he didn’t, he praised Andrew for voicing his opinion. From that day on, I realized that it is ok to voice your opinion, no matter how crazy it be, as long as you believe in it. Because of this I have been more open with people about my problems with the conflict in Israel. I have been made fun of, some people don’t like me anymore, and I have even been called anti-Semitic. But I don’t care what people say or think anymore, because I know who I am, and I surely know I am not an anti-Semite. I thank Mr. Gallagher for teaching me this lesson.
Among the many things I learned in this class, one of the most important things was that my opinion counted. Mr. Gallagher would always tell us to stick to our opinions, and to not be afraid to voice them. I remember the first class I had with Mr.Gallagher, we read The Bear that Wasn’t and most of the students in the class blogged that night about how they loved the story and how they learned to keep their individuality because of it. Although that might be true for some, one student, Andrew LaBelle, wrote that he thought it was just a children’s book.
The next day Mr.Gallagher brought up that blog, and my first thought was that he was going to rip Andrew for making fun of his lesson. But to my surprise, he didn’t, he praised Andrew for voicing his opinion. From that day on, I realized that it is ok to voice your opinion, no matter how crazy it be, as long as you believe in it. Because of this I have been more open with people about my problems with the conflict in Israel. I have been made fun of, some people don’t like me anymore, and I have even been called anti-Semitic. But I don’t care what people say or think anymore, because I know who I am, and I surely know I am not an anti-Semite. I thank Mr. Gallagher for teaching me this lesson.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnukFthZEjFbu2nSRP-o5RCmPdoNTyIgaqqgBosYIJj3TgeJa0JJJgCxH_j1-eK9PkGfUDlUZqmNQrtmEBGxPbcfJOmJ5OGRZSoDUzOtDOtrf18IB8iEhxot9hoL1KSwYmRIcHAKfGc3Dz/s320/israeli_palestinian.gif
For the last thing I have been taught in this course, it was to think before I make a decision. We have watched video after video of the atrocities of the Holocaust, and I am sitting there watching and thinking to myself “Do people really do this to eachother? And if so why”. Then Mr.Gallaghers flow chart on his wall comes into play. It starts with the victim and perpetrator, then the bystander which is key, and then the rescuer. I learned that the Nazis told the big lies and those were the lies people were more susceptible to believe in. I started to think how that might even be in play in today’s wars. It is very interesting to think about. I learned to never be a bystander, because if you are one, you could be next in line, and you are only agreeing with the perpetrator by not standing up for the victim. I hope to carry this lesson on in life, because it is very important.
As my days in high school draw to a close, I remember more and more of my past. I see how I have changed year by year and overall. I remember all those I have helped and all those I have hurt. Because of this class I wish I can go back and change the way I treated the people I hurt. Because I realize now that violence and verbal abuse are not going to get me anywhere in life. I also realized that life is too short, and that I shouldn’t worry about small things. Bad things always start because of something small, and then they escalate and become a problem. I am Osman Alnaal, and I am a changed man.
For the last thing I have been taught in this course, it was to think before I make a decision. We have watched video after video of the atrocities of the Holocaust, and I am sitting there watching and thinking to myself “Do people really do this to eachother? And if so why”. Then Mr.Gallaghers flow chart on his wall comes into play. It starts with the victim and perpetrator, then the bystander which is key, and then the rescuer. I learned that the Nazis told the big lies and those were the lies people were more susceptible to believe in. I started to think how that might even be in play in today’s wars. It is very interesting to think about. I learned to never be a bystander, because if you are one, you could be next in line, and you are only agreeing with the perpetrator by not standing up for the victim. I hope to carry this lesson on in life, because it is very important.
As my days in high school draw to a close, I remember more and more of my past. I see how I have changed year by year and overall. I remember all those I have helped and all those I have hurt. Because of this class I wish I can go back and change the way I treated the people I hurt. Because I realize now that violence and verbal abuse are not going to get me anywhere in life. I also realized that life is too short, and that I shouldn’t worry about small things. Bad things always start because of something small, and then they escalate and become a problem. I am Osman Alnaal, and I am a changed man.
http://psydewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/Individuality.jpg
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