World Cultures: Your Own Worldview

Unit 3 Lesson 3c Part 1

Part 1
1. To start off the list I am going to agree with Education is important. A lot
of the worlds problems arise because of a lack of education. With greater
sexual education, sexual disease and unwanted pregnancy rates would
dramatically decrease. With greater knowledge of other cultures, racism (and
in turn a lot of violence and conflict) would not exist. In a nutshell,
knowledge is power. I cannot give one source that shows where I learned
this; rather it has been a slow process of realizing the importance of
education.
2. Also related to the list given to us, it is a core belief of mine that there is
no god. Whether or not there is some ultimate powerthat created the
laws of the universe, or has some sort of control over us, none can say for
sure. But after studying religion even briefly, anyone should be able to come
to the conclusion that man synthesizes all the gods organized religions
follow. One of my favorite quotes is, The more I study religion, the more I
am convinced man never worshipped anything but himself by Sir Richard
Francis Burton. One teacher I have in mind didnt teach me this, but he
definitely put me on the right path for me to eventually come to this
conclusion. This teacher in elementary school introduced me to philosophy,
and reasoning, and from there I just kind of found my way.
3. Everybody, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc, should
be treated with equal rights. Although there are lots of exceptions, for
example in terms of age, 8 year olds shouldnt be allowed to drive. In
general, every man and woman, black and white, should have access to the
same rights. Not just one teacher, but many Im sure, have passed this
down to me. Also I have read about racism in books and on the Internet. I
have read about racial wars, and read about racial genocide. Although I have
never experienced racism first hand, as I come from the Ottawa Valley (and
we arent very cultured.) from second hand sources I came to this
conclusion.

4. There is no purpose to life. A lot of people say they think they are on
earth for a reason, I disagree. It is my belief that everything came to being by
chance, and everyones purpose on this earth is only what they make it.
Whether you spend your entire life isolated or engaged in society, in the
long run it doesnt really matter. In short, life is what you make it. This is
not something I was taught obviously, nobody teaches things like this.
Rather by observing how the world works, I came to this conclusion myself.
5. I strongly believe that humans and animals should learn to coexist
peacefully and that the world is big enough for all of us, at least for now.
With skyrocketing human populations, the world is becoming smaller and
smaller, but thats a whole different point. Humans ever since the industrial
revolution have been killing the planets wildlife at alarming rates. I believe
that there is a way for us to exist on this planet together, without major
losses of species due to environmental damage, loss of habitat, invasive
species, exploitation, etc. I understand that humans need to kill to survive,
that is a basic principal. But humans have a tendency to take more than they
need, and this is what we can change. I have learned this through biology
class, environmental science class, many documentaries on the food industry
and humans, and from many other sources.