What'd you do July 24th 2010?

I looked back in an old blog post and remembered on July 24th I went to a dentist to get my teeth cleaned.

While that was happening people all around the world were videotaping their daily lives in the documentary Life in a Day.

I wanted to watch this documentary because it looked like a really interesting documentary. As it turns out, I was right. Out of 4,500 hours of footage from 80 thousand submissions from 192 countries filmed, an hour and 35 minutes condenses and summarizes the day of July 24th 2010 from the eyes of many different people of different cultures.

It's really interesting to see what's considered normal for different people across the world. Whether it's living in the streets or a cemetery or a small apartment people go through their lives as how they see it and their views on certain aspects of life are. Like a guy travelling the world by bicycle from Korea who wishes for Korea to be united as one. A woman from India making offerings to the Hindu god Vishnu. And as shocking as this sound, riots in Germany. People even answer the questions of what's in their pockets, what they love and what they fear. You'd be amazed with what these people have to say.

I love movies like this because it really opens up people like us to different cultures and what they think on life compared to what other people go through normally. You see the hardships others have to face to make it through the day. Different points of view really shape our world to what it is now with how many cultures there are. I mean in America we really have no specific way to show that we're Americans. We're all just a bunch of different cultures jumbled together in 50 states. So I like seeing documentaries and stuff about different places around the world. I see things I never see every day and it fascinates me.

I remember when I first saw the documentary Babies which recorded the first year of the lives of four different babies from Africa, Mongolia, Japan and America. It's amazing the conditions the children from Africa and Mongolia live in are normal for them and they're fine with the conditions they live in compared to the clean lives of Japan and America. It opens the world to other ways of life. It makes people less selfish.

XOXO,

Liz

A Wish for a World Without Hate

Recently, I watched a documentary called The Anatomy of Hate. Of course, it was about people hating. White supremacists, Westboro Baptist church protesters, suicide bombers, and just people in the Middle East who carry guns with them everywhere until they find a cafe to blow up. I'm not sure I should say if it was good or bad, but in fact very interesting. It really makes you think how many ignorant and unintelligent people there are in the world.

White supremacists are Caucasians who think they're superior to any other race. They're mainly against black people and think they're demons on Earth. The most well known supremacist group is the KKK(Ku Klux Klan). I'm not the only one thinking that this is an argument that's as old as before the Civil War, right? People really should get over themselves and get a serious reality check. For those kind of people: You aren't any better than anyone else in the world; you're just another human being like all the other six billion people on the planet no matter what race you are. You're just like millions of other people in the world, so what makes you think being Caucasian is oh so special? And knock off the stereotyping too. Your kids are going to be fine because not every black man you run into is a rapist.

Religious protesters. We all know how much fun they are. This documentary focused on one group of people who do it all the time. The Westboro Baptist Church. I'm sure we all know how nuts these people are. They always protest at wherever for whatever stupid reason they have. They're mainly against homosexuality and gay troops in the army. I don't like these kinds of people because they have to make huge deals over nothing. We get it you're against homosexuality. Tell it to someone who's going to care and not trying to start riots with you guys. Get over yourselves.

Here's another plus: They have children protesting with their parents. This one kid can't be older than six or seven, and he's singing a rendition of "God Bless America" with his mother which basically says "God hates fags." How many six year olds do you know know what the word fag even means? None I hope. How a woman like that lives with herself and a family of six children I have no idea.

What is wrong with church these days? All these people rant away with "God hates this", "God hates that", and "You're going to burn in hell if you don't do this". Do these people even understand what the bible's saying? As far as they think, God is apparently some mean being trying to make our lives miserable. People only see what they want to see. But they don't really understand what the bible's really saying.

(If you're an atheist, you can skip this paragraph if you want.)God is a loving person. Everything he does, he does because he loves us. People seem to blame him for all of their problems. Westboro Baptist Church says that he hates America and he cause 9/11 and we're going to burn in hell sometime soon. All of that stuff they say is untrue. (You can go back to reading the rest of blog now if you skipped this part)

That's a bit why I haven't taken any interest in going to church for about five years. I get really bored, and no one really explains what anyone's saying. They just toss around quotes from the bible and leave it to us to try to understand what they're saying. It's like trying to take a test that counts as a part of your grade, and the teacher hasn't taught you anything. People should really try to learn what's coming out of their mouths before they begin to blabber away.

While I'm on the topic of religion, why are people obsessed with the end of the world? People always say that one day the entire human race will die out. We always wonder when. People just keep giving out random dates when we'll die. Year 1000, year 2000, June 6, 2006, and the ever popular December 21, 2012. From my point of view, I think the world will end in a few million years, the Sun will blow up, and destroy the Earth. So really, I don't think we'll die anytime soon. I just live my life the carefree person I am. People should stop worrying when we die and just live with what life has to offer for us.

How many people have wished for world peace when they were little? A lot. I know I've prayed and wished for it a couple times before I went to bed. We always think of an ideal world for everyone to live in. No homeless on the streets. Everyone loves each other for who they are. People put down their guns and come to agreements where everyone's happy. We stop global warming and the extinction of many animals. All the troops would be home to never miss another Christmas or birthday. Any of this sound familiar?

We all think and talk about a world like that, but how many of us act? If everyone could do something, even the tiniest act, to help the world, then wouldn't the planet become a better place to live in? It's just my opinion. Maybe if people could stop making ignorant and stupid choices, we wouldn't have these problems today. Maybe one day we can live without fear and hate.

XOXO,
Liz