The Triumphs of the British Empire- Courage

   The British Empire once controlled almost all of Europe. No country could defeat them, and only a few strong countries like France, Spain, and Portugal could fend off the British. The British Isles is a very, very small place. It is only about 3/4 the size of France, and only a little more heavily populated. Very few people can claim that they defeated the British. Joan of Arc was one, and even George Washington was an example of that. Britain being so small, it is surprising how it could even take over a single country. It wasn't the diversity of the army, as France had the most advanced technology. It wasn't the population, because Britain was such a small place.

    There is really only two reasons that historians and scholars have been able to reason could be the explanation of the huge expansion of the British Empire. The first and probably less great one was that Britain certainly was lucky. A fair few battles were won on chance mostly. The second was the true way that Britain was able to win all of those wars. It was the soldiers they had. They had some of the most die-hard courage in the entire world. They would fling themselves right into enemy lines and fire, and though many of them were killed, they killed more of the enemy. The sheer bravery of the people shattered carefully laid battle plans, and won all of the wars they faced. There was, however, a downside to such courage.

    This wasn't regular courage that the army is always advertising. It was cold, heartless courage. It caused much unnecessarily death among the enemies of Britain. The cold courage would make you kill your own family if the king or the government so commanded it.

     So thus, Britain was the ultimate power of the world, at least until the discovery of America. I am not going to lie to you. The American Revolution was won 90% on sheer dumb luck. Lucky reactions that stopped the British, and ultimately spelled their demise. Luck aside, there is something to be said about the courage of the American people. They didn't fight for a country, but for a cause. There is no greater force than that of a man with a cause. That courage, along with luck and the introduction of Guerrilla warfare, was what won us that war, and gave the British their first real defeat for generations.

The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans- Fear

     Fear is a major emotion. Technically, it is the response your body has to something that will possibly hurt or damage you in any way, both physically and mentally. It helps us to avoid harmful and irritating things. It can also hurt you (ever been afraid to do a project or speak publicly, because fear makes it harder). It can be fear of a bear, or fear of embarrassment, or even fear of fear. No one likes to be afraid, but it is just a part of life.

    I will now show the fear in the event of The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War 2. There are two sides of the issue. I will start with the side against the Japanese Americans. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the people and the government began to be suspicious of Japanese products and people. In fact, the government was afraid that citizens of Japanese heritage would be disloyal to America, and favor Japan in the war. They were afraid that they would become spies or conspirators or vigilantes. A pointless fear, but a fear nonetheless.

   So the government forced the Japanese Americans people to give everything they owned to them for resale, and shipped the people out to what are often referred to as Japanese Concentration Camps.  They were forced to live in sloppily made, unpainted, uninsulated, unsealed bunkers that a rat wouldn't choose to sleep in. They were forced to eat low-grade rations that the army provided for them. They had little freedom, and they suffered greatly. All of this because of an unreasonable fear. This shows that fear can make people do very terrible things. But, it can also inspire greatness, which is what I will explain with the other side of the story.

   When the Japanese Americans were forced into the camps, they were confused, and they feared the government. It was a fear of destruction, and a fear that their lives may never be returned. This fear which bound their hearts, also opened them. They aided each other, helping everyone in the community finish bunkers, plant flowers, care for children, and lived as best as they could. It unified them against a common enemy: The Government. Traces of these feelings remain, but today they do not unify, they only agitate. Fear can be a good or bad thing, but it should never remain in your heart after it is needed.

   People are always saying that love comes from the heart. Where does fear come from? I always imagine fear coming from the back of my eyes to the back of my throat. That is what it feels like at first. Then it numbs the mind. Where do you think fear comes from?

What Is The Human Spirit

     Simply put, it is the way that human beings feel about and interact with other humans. In reality, it is a huge, complex subject you can't put into one sentence. How do you describe joy? Hate? Sorrow? You can't do anything but say vague statements like "It feels good." Although you can't explain it, you can show it. That is a major part of the Human Spirit.
    There are three main parts to the Human Spirit. Emotion, Conscience, and Interaction. Emotion, like mentioned above, is not explainable, but it is show-able. It is our instinctive reaction to change, whether it be good, bad, or somewhere in the middle. It is the way to relieve stress, to communicate, and to clear our minds and spark conscious thought.
    Conscience is the way we actively and manually think, and also the way we tell right from wrong. We make decisions with our conscience, using both facts and the bias from emotions and the interactions we have had. It allows us to create, plan, and discover new ways to do things and facts to help us make decisions.
     Interaction combines both of the others into a way to communicate ideas and feelings. Whether it be physically (fighting, donating, imprisoning, etc...) or mentally/emotionally. It allows humans to work together happily and harmoniously, as well as working against each other and spreading discord and suffering. In these few posts, I will go through various events in human history, and will identify the Human Spirit in all of them.
     I would like to thank Mr. Gant for this whole part of my blog. He gave me the term Human Spirit, and the understanding I have of it. Thank you Mr. Gant!!!

Environment:The Final Post

    I know that Environment was only a few posts long, but like in politics, there are too many problems to count. So, I addressed the overall theme, gave you some warnings, and a few examples to give you a glimpse of the world around you. I will leave you all to research and record findings relevant to this topic, and spread the word of the actions that need to be taken to save the precious resources that support us so well today.
 
    What a fragile world we live in. Millions of years of creating coal, oil, and all of the creatures we know, love, eat, and kill today, and finally, with one species of super-brainy human beings, we wipe out most of the resources in only about a thousand. What an immense step in Earth's history, the creation of humans, but also the most weathering and changing. Soon, our world will break, unable to support all of the human lives that we have a high chance of generating.

   And how deceiving and petty many humans are, willing to take advantage of the concern and the compassion of others, not caring who or what they hurt, just for their own personal gain. Whether it be for money, fame, power, or other shallow desires, they do not care for the future of humanity as a whole, but just for them.

   In the next section of this blog, I will address the cruel and wonderful aspects of the lives of humans. I hope to to help others to understand who we are and what we do. Many things I will bring up. The incarceration of the Japanese and the Slavery of the African Americans. The various emotions and motives we have for doing things, and their effects on other. I am proud to present my next section: "The Human Spirit."

Ice Age or Global Warming?

   Which one would you want? Many of those that hate the hot will say Ice Age, while the majority would be Global Warming. But why does it even matter? Since the closest you will ever be to an Ice Age or an extreme Global Warming is your science textbook, why would anyone think like this?
   
    Well, the answer would be that we need to be prepared. Even if we never face it or if our children never face it or if our childrens' children never face it, preparations for either would have to be made very early, which requires planning, thinking, and reasoning with this thought pattern.
    
   In our preparations, we need to consider what is the most dangerous occurrence. Many would say Global Warming because of all of the years of hearing how terrible it is etc. from people like Al Gore. That is not true. Think about it. Can a harvest of tomatoes and peas survive an extra extra hot day? Obviously, they may be a little damaged, but nothing more than that. Now consider the opposite. Can a crop survive a frost? What if it came in the middle of the growing season? That would kill all of your crops, and leave you hungry.
   
   Prolonged cold causes more damage to plants and animals, and may even kill much of them. With our huge projected population in 2050, and in hundreds of years, if we lost our crops, we would have a terrible starvation. Just because glaciers melt an a few Arctic species suffer doesn't mean that Global Warming is the worst thing that can happen to the planet.
   
    So how would we be prepared for any one of these occurrences? By creating weather-resistant strains of plants. By making things available to the poor that will allow them to work and prosper in colder or warmer temperatures. By making things like Eco-friendly pesticides available to areas that have insect surges due to rising temperatures. It is all common sense. 

   We need to realize and start to plan a preparation for such occurrences so that we do not get caught with our hands tied behind our backs. And who knows? Maybe there is a way for humanity to cause Global Warming or other climate change. We need to be ready and willing.