Essay Discussion Notes

Carolyn and Ian ;) ;)

So we discussed who was going to be each party before we chose the slips of paper and we ended up getting our chosen characters, it was good. Since then we have concluded that I, Ian, shall hold the character of the royal governor on the loyalists side. Then we discussed with Craig the possibility of characters that might seem to be loyalists on the surface but in fact were true patriots and supported the patriot cause. Possibilities include me being the royal loyalist governor while Carolyn plays the part of a slave holding plantation owner who acts like a loyalist but is actually a patriot at heart. Ian as Governor Wheatley, and Carolyn as Flanders Sodderson.

Our choice for the form of this project is a debate, with an emphasis on real-world interaction.

Ian: mariners98198@yahoo.com
Carolyn: carolyn_shaw@hotmail.com

Midterm Practice

Thomas Hobb’s, an 18^th century philosopher, is quoted as saying that liberty and necessity are intertwined. He then says that the same liberty and fear are also connected in a simplistic yet sophisticated manner. He explanation of liberty and necessity is slightly flawed though it has its factual roots. He states that because every act of man completed in full liberty springs from a cause for a necessity, liberty and necessity are related. By the definition of the minority a need is anything that they could ever demand, however the true definition stems from a physical requirement for living, and every cause of man is not based on this requirement. Hobbs’ statement that fear and liberty are consistent is however based in fact. For the fact that men do everything they do out of fear of weakness, fear and liberty are consistent however every free act of man does not stem from necessity.

In the heart of a man are many needs and many desires. A physical need is one required for living. A need is nothing more and nothing less. To say need causes every action committed by men in full liberty is a gross exaggeration. Every day men invent new causes to fight for that which fulfills their desire to be thought of as important and powerful. These causes are certainly brought to pass into society by the liberty every man has to order his life the way he so chooses. These causes however are not all based on necessity. A great example is that of American’s richest innovated, Bill Gates. The cause of this man is to have a computer in every single household in America. This is a great and noble cause but it is not based at all in necessity. The necessity of this man is no more than a fanciful desire to complete himself, however it has no affect on whether or not he lives or dies.

Hobbs’ statement that liberty and necessity are consistent stems from the belief that a need is not only that which we must have to survive, but it is anything we ‘must have’. This humanistic hyperbole is just that, an overstatement of the truth and attempt to force their desires into existence. Not every desire of men is based off of a need, and therefore not every action stemming from man’s desire is based off necessity.

Hobbs’ does strike a spot of truth however when he describes how fear and liberty are consistent. Hobbs says this in response to the human condition of being surrounded by those who constantly pick and prod at every flaw and mistake they make. To compensate for this men purposefully mold their actions to fit the law and code of society. In affect every action of man is committed for fear of what society will think or do if what they say and do does not fit the standard. As Hobbs says that every action of men done in full liberty in the common wealth stems from the fear of the law, he is describing this process. One might also relate this to the law and the criminal who decides not to steal his neighbors cow because the law states he must be punished severely for doing so.

Another example of the relationship between fear and liberty comes from the governmental system. Men everyday in the government system of America have the full liberty to make decisions and statements according to the wants and desires of the American people. This liberty, however, is guided by the fear of America’s acceptance of these decisions and statements. In this way liberty and fear are intertwined.

Thomas Hobbs’ description of the relatedness of fear and liberty is based in fact and can be shown in today’s society. However his definition of necessity stems from mans belief that desire equals necessity and this is untrue.

Essay Reflection

My honest evaluation of my previous essay is that I did do nearly the best I could've. Theres always that point where I feel like I've done enough and then someone says change this or rewrite this paragraph and I'm thinking, no, what if that conflicts with my main point and my thesis and so on and so forth. However I did honestly try as hard as I could and when I found out I needed more of a they say I say form I went over my essay and edited and added the appropiate sentences to fulfill that requirement. I wrote both my conclusion and my intro before they were due, even though that was due to not knowing when Craig wanted them I none the less did not skimp on any of the assignment that I thought I should get done and I did not procrastinate. Some personal criticism I could make about my essay would be that I could have made my last few paragraphs run together more and flow a little better with the paper, which I did to an extent but I could have had some introductory sentences in the paragraph before but despite the fact I think they don't blend too horribly.
About my writing process I learned that there is no really form I need to follow except maybe the form of writing my thoughts an ideas down before hand. Whatever form that might hold doesn't matter too much either. At first I was afraid that by writing my intro last, something I had never done before, I would be unable to shape my paper with my thesis statement. However I found out that I was able to write my body paragraphs and then shape my thesis statement around what I wrote. I obviously had to put a little more effort into staying focused and so I wrote one sentence to guide my writing which stated that class was the only reason the rebellion started. Obviously thats no where near a thesis statement but I needed a focused direction. And my writing philosophy, I suppose I really don't actually have a certain form I do it in, just whatever feels right at the time. However I do think that in terms of educational argumentative writing I first state the false actions or believe or what it may be and then state what I think. Then again that could just be because thats what we have learned in class with the they say I say articles. I am pretty unsure. I do know that I wrote my essay in a they say I say format when I usually state my believe, what I say and then relate it to what someone else falsely says, or at least what I see as them falsely saying.
So far I do not see the difference between college and high school writing except maybe the teacher actually speaks with each student and the due dates are sooner. But that is not always an absolute either so I honestly have yet to see a difference. But maybe that will change once I see my grade.

Mary AOD

Last night I met with a few people from my youth group that my youth pastor put together to take more charge of the youth group and develope more of a close nit group as well as one that knows God in a deeper way that changes the way they live their lifes. In a way Jason, my youth leader, was building a social capital by using each of our talents to come together and build of the youth group. Also during the meeting I tried my best to state my ideas in a way that was understandable to the rest of the group, which is an example of Public Dialogue. Sometimes others in the group didn't directly agree with what I was saying, but there is unity in Diversity. When they were saying how they felt about what I was saying I had to continue to work on actively listening to them.

Final Draft-Bacon's Rebellion Essay

Whether it is the richest versus the poorest or survival of the fittest; importance and power has always been based off physical possessions and prowess. The 18th century was no exception. Poor colonists of the time had little control over their own lives in government while the rich, plantation owning members of local government constructed the parameters of daily life in the Chesapeake Bay Colony. These parameters were set up according to the plantation owners needs. They did not take one moment to consider the needs of their fellow, poorer colonists. A few poor colonists felt that at least one of their needs was too great to be ignored, the need for land. The problem with this land is that it belonged to fierce, warring Indians which the wealthy government officials had already made pacts with promising to not touch it. This was a problem since these pacts were made without the poor farming colonists consent. The poor farmers in Chesapeake Bay were less able to get land due to the power and privilege of the upper classed government elite.

This need for land originated as the indentured servants of Chesapeake Bay began fulfilling their promised years of service to their masters and came into a great need for their own land on which to farm and live. This need of land put the lower classed, newly freed colonists’ patience on edge. To push it off Indians attacked a local farmer’s land supposedly because the farmer failed to owe them for certain favors the Indians paid him. The colonists' worries about obtaining land and freedom revealed themselves in the fury of attacks by both Indians and colonists that followed. To guide this vigilante behavior Nathaniel Bacon led this band of rebels with his famous declaration “We must defend ourselves against all Indians in general, for that they were all enemies.”(www.pbs.org) In this quote Bacon tells the colonists that they want land from Indians whom he hates and he has the power to give it to them.

The lack of sympathy for the need of poor farmers for land continued to be the prevailing issue as wealthy land owners controlled colonial government. This fact is expressed by a poor farmer named William Tyler, “Nether the governor nor counsel could or would doe any poore men right, but that they would shew favor to great men and wronge the poore.”(Roark 88) Wealthy land owning government officials had made several treaties with Indians to not take their land to prevent war and fighting between the natives and the colonists. This action taken to help the colonial town was actually solely helping the wealthy land owners who made it, and not the lower classed former servants who it affected the most. The evil was not in the making of the treaty itself, but making it without the consent of the majority of the colonists was. Another example of the apathetic view taken by the government of the poor's needs would be when the Indians attacked a local farmer's land and Berkeley didn’t take any action. When the colonist’s realized Berkeley had no intention of defending them, they took their own action and fought back against the Indians.

Bacon himself had his own aggravations to bring against Berkeley. Nathaniel Bacon was born wealthy in England and moved to America when his cousin did so and married the governor of Massachusetts. Bacon, a wealthy plantation owner, saw opportunity to get back at the Indians who trespassed and caused problems on his plantation. What really upset Bacon however was Berkeley denying him a commission of soldiers, Berkeley obviously knowing Bacon's intent was to attack the Indians. It was well known that Berkeley frowned upon making war with local Indians who were presently allied with the colony for that might put "all the Indians against us" as he put it( www.pbs.org ). This in itself cannot not be looked down on, however the fact that Berkeley decided against a war with the natives without the consent of the largest part of his colony was a mistake. He took advantage of his control as the wealthy, plantation owning governor and made a decision that he thought right. Though his decision might not of been wrong, he made it wrongly without allowing the lower classed farmers to have a say. The problems that followed were easily predictable.

Bacon, seeing and even empathizing with many of the colonist’s complaints, led the colonists in their discontent against Berkeley and the Natives surrounding Chesapeake Bay. Upon receiving information of Bacon’s exploits Berkeley tried his best to take control of the colony. When Bacon fled with his men into the forest after his first attack on the Pamunkey tribe, Berkeley sent out a petition declaring Bacon to be a rebel. He also declared that his men would be pardoned if they would give up and stop following Bacon.(www.nps.gov ) He then proceeded to removed Bacon from his seat on the counsel which Berkeley had given him a year earlier. The counsel was a group of men equivalent to the congress of present day America. Bacon however, in rebellion of Berkeley’s unfair decisions, did not listen to Berkeley and attacked the Occaneecheee tribe. In July of 1676 Bacon wrote up a declaration forcing all men of the colony to swear loyalty to himself in whatever way necessary. Though many colonists would have been quick to do so in view of the lands that they were attaining under Bacon's rebellious leadership, even this was not enough to stop Berkeley and his upper class supporters from taking back control of the colony.

Another ill-made decision by the wealthy government officials was the decree by Governor William Berkeley that prevented many colonists from trading with local Indian tribes. The purpose of this decree was so colonists would not trade arms with Indians so as to encourage peace. Lower class colonists however accused Berkeley of being corrupt in making this decision because he allowed many of his wealthy, land owning friends to still continue to trade with the Indians. The colonist’s had a major point. If Berkeley was going to outlaw trading, he should have outlawed all trading, and not allow a select few to do the trading while banning all who were not quite as prosperous. This all gave incentive to Nathaniel Bacon since he himself traded often with the Indians.

What was unique about this rebellion was the white and black comradeship. Poor black and white farmers alike fought the upper classed colonists to obtain the land they wanted making no distinguishment between white and black skin. When wealthy plantation owners came to this realization, they realized they needed to make common ground with the white lower classed farmers so that their authority would never again be challenged in such a way. Slavery was the answer. After the rebellion slavery began to take hold in the colony and white men, whether poor or not, slowly became equal in superiority over black skinned farmers.

In the end twenty three dissenters were hanged for their part in the rebellion and King Charles II retired Berkeley from office, appointing an English governor more suited to his interests. This was the first step taken by the king to remove the liberties that many colonists had come to the new world to enjoy. The king wanted a tighter grip on his new settlement that he felt was getting out of his control. However the steps he took soon incited the American revolution in which the impotent American’s fought for their freedom from the ruling English.

Today people with more power constantly out rule those with less power and set up parameters and guidelines often according to their own desires. At the church that hosts the youth group I attend there is a youth room upstairs where we met when I first started attending the youth group. I had the most fun there that I had ever had at any church and I later became a Christian, largely in part because in that youth room we were able to have so much fun. That was the first time that I ever considered that worshiping God could be fun. Later the church decided that they didn’t want the youth meeting up in the room because they were worried about things getting stolen or broken. What they didn’t realize was that kid’s lives, like my own, were changed in that room. The worse part was that us kids, the reason the youth group even exists, had no say in the matter. They were worried solely about their own property and needs and payed no attention to the needs of those they hosted in their church building.

The class and position of a member of a society was seen in Bacon's Rebellion to also determine their consequent influence on the community. In Bacon’s rebellion, the case of class influenced whether or not the unwealthy colonists would get the land they needed from the sometimes vicious Indians. The authority they needed to sway the governmental powers in the colony to war against the Indians was not in their hands though they were the majority. Maybe the poor farmers were corrupt in wanting land that belonged to someone else, but the government was also corrupt for catering to their own personal interests above those of the colony at large. Those that have gained an importance will sway the laws, whether they be rich or poor. The rebels of Bacon’s rebellion also proved this fact as they made themselves important so that the governing elite could no longer ignore them. They fought long and hard to make their voices heard in a government run by the upper class.

Essay Rough Draft

The richest, the poorest, the strongest and the weakest; survival of the fittest. Mankind has always based importance and power off of physical possessions and prowess. The 18th century was no exception. Poor colonists of the time had little control over their own lives in government while the rich, plantation owning members of local government constructed each parameter of daily life in the colony. These parameters were set up according to the plantation owners own needs. They did not taking one moment to consider the needs of their fellow, poorer colonists. A few poor colonists felt that their needs were too great to be ignored, especially their need for land. However because this land colonists wanted belonged to fierce, warring the wealthy government officials made pacts with local Indians promising to not touch it. With more colonist’s arriving in the colony every year, action to take more land was inevitable. And if the government didn’t take it, the colonists would.

Three quarters of the way through the 17^th century indentured servants began fulfilling their years of service and land for them to dwell was much needed. This along with storms, wars and economic problems across the ocean in England put the lower classed colonists’ patience on edge. To push it off Indians attacked a local farmers land supposedly because the farmer failed to owe them for certain favors the Indians paid him. This began a fury of attacks by both Indians and colonists that revealed the colonists’ cares about land and freedom. To guide this vigilante behavior Nathaniel Bacon led this band of rebels with his famous declaration “We must defend ourselves against all Indians in general, for that they were all enemies.” Bacon, though a wealthy plantation owner, saw opportunity to get back at his cousin by marriage for withholding his commission of soldiers. Playing on the colonist’s desire for land Bacon lead his own band of land hungry colonist’s in numerous attacks on the Indians.

Bacon realized that because of the colonists’ lower place in society that they had very little sway on what the government of Virginia did and said. He himself was mad at Berkeley for denying him his commission of soldiers. The colonist’s anger however raged against the wealthy land owners who ran colonial government. This fact is expressed by colonist William Tyler “Nether the governor nor counsel could or would doe any poore men right, but that they would shew favor to great men and wronge the poore.”(Book pg 88) Wealthy land owning government officials had made several treaties with Indians to not take their land so as to prevent war and fighting between the natives and the colonists. This action taken to help the colonial town was actually helping only the wealthy land owners who made it, and not the lower class former servants who it affected the most. Another example of the colonist’s lack of sway in the government would be when the Indians attacked the local farmers land and Berkeley didn’t take any action. When the colonist’s realized Berkeley had no intention of doing anything they took their own action and fought back against the Indians.

Another ill-made decision by the wealthy government officials was the decree by Governor William Berkeley that prevented many colonists from trading with local Indian tribes. The purpose of this decree was so colonists would not trade arms with Indians so as to encourage peace. Lower class colonists however accused Berkeley of being corrupt in making this decision because he allowed many of his wealthy land owning friends to still continue to trade with the Indians. This Bacon also saw as unfair. Since he himself was a trader as well, the law upset him even more. Another occurrence that upset Mr. Bacon happened when one of the surrounding Indian tribes had trespassed onto his plantation and murdered one of his own servants. This encouraged him all the more to take initiative and lead a band of discontented colonists against the so called savages.

Bacon, seeing this issue was at the heart of many of the colonist’s complaints, lead the colonists in taking their passions and bringing them into fulfillment. The first attack he made was on the Pamunkey tribe, forcing them out of their nearby residence. After this Berkeley tried to take Bacon by force but Bacon only fled to the wood with 200 plus men with him to plan their next attack. This attack involved Bacon peacefully visiting the Occaneecheee’s, convincing them to capture a few enemy warriors from a neighboring tribe, and then opening fire on them all and killing most of the tribe.

Upon receiving information about all of Bacon’s exploits Berkeley tried his best to take control over the colony. When Bacon fled with his men into the forest after attacking the Pamunkey tribe, Berkeley sent out a petition declaring Bacon to be a rebel. He also declared that his men would be pardoned if they would give up and stop following Bacon. He then proceeded to removed him from his seat on the counsel which Berkeley had given Bacon a year earlier out of pure brotherly kindness. The counsel was a group of men equivalent to the congress of present day America. Bacon however, true to his rebellious ways, did not listen to Berkeley and went out and attacked the Occaneecheee’s. In order to halt any further disorder Berkeley agreed to pardon Bacon and send him to the king to be tried before him if he turned himself in. The house of burgesses denied this request however and voted instead to force Bacon to publicly ask for forgiveness from Berkeley. This was decided around the time of election for the house of burgesses when the colonist’s elected Bacon to the house of burgesses. By doing this the poorer colonists unknowingly tricked Bacon into falling right into Berkeley’s hands by attending his first meeting as a house of burgesses member. As soon as he arrived Berkeley’s government men captured Bacon and took him before Berkeley.

As soon as Bacon had apologized to Berkeley he allow him to take his spot in the house of burgesses. Bacon however ran out in the middle of the meeting and brought back hundreds of former servants to demand that he be given the right to control all military forces in the colony to eliminate the natives. After several heated moments of debate and a few murderous threats uttered by Bacon and his gang, Berkeley was practically forced to hand over all military control to Bacon.

Berkeley’s authority had officially been overwritten to his embarrassment. After this Bacon immediately took control over Jamestown for the next two months as the lower class colonists supported him. Supporters of Berkeley fled with him from the town, overtaken and bewildered. Raids of surrounding Indian tribes began taking place by the land needy colonists lead by Bacon. In July of 1676 Bacon wrote up a declaration forcing all men of the colony to swear loyalty in whatever way necessary. Though many colonists would have been quick to do so in view of the lands that they were attaining, even this was not enough to stop Berkeley and his upper class supporters from taking back control of the colony.

What was unique about this rebellion for its time was the white and black comradeship. Poor colonists made no distinguishment between white and black skin and they worked equally with each other to attain their goals. When wealthy plantation owners came to this realization, they saw the need to have some common ground with the white colonists, and slavery was the answer. After the rebellion slavery began to take hold, and white men; whether poor or not, began to become equal in superiority.

In the end twenty three dissenters were hanged for their part in the rebellion and King Charles II retired Berkeley from office and appointed an English governor more suited to his interests. This was the first step taken by the king that began removing the liberties that many colonists had come to the new world to enjoy. The king wanted a tighter grip on his new settlement that he felt was getting out of his control. However the steps he took soon incited the American revolution where the lower class American’s fought for their freedom from the ruling English.

Today people of more importance constantly out rule those of lower influence and set up parameters and guidelines often according to their own needs. At the church that hosts the youth group I go to there is this youth room that we met in when I first started attending the youth group. I had the most fun there that I had ever had at any church and I later became a Christian, largely in part because in that youth room we were able to have so much fun and that was the first time that I ever considered that worshipping God could be fun. Later the church decided that they didn’t want the youth meeting up in the room because they were worried about things getting stolen or broken. What they didn’t realize was that kid’s lives, like my own, were changed in that room, and isn’t that what church is all about? They were worried solely about their own property and needs and not about the needs of those they hosted in their church building.

The question of your class and position in society has throughout the centuries also determined your consequent influence on your community. In Bacon’s rebellion, the case of class influenced whether or not the not so wealthy colonists would get the land they need from the sometimes vicious Indians. The authority they needed to sway the government powers in the colony to war against the Indians was not in their hands though they were the majority. Maybe the colonist’s were corrupt in wanting land that belonged to someone else, but the government was also corrupt for catering to their own personal interests above those of the colony at large. Those that have gained an importance will sway the laws, whether the be rich or poor. The rebels of Bacon’s rebellion showed that anyone could take control if they really wanted to. They also showed that control didn’t always make things work out the way the leaders wanted them to.

AOD-Mary

Yesterday I was talking with a friend and helping him with life issues, or supportively guiding him in public matters, kinda like mentoring. It was good, he said he really enjoyed talking to me and I really enjoy helping people with life issues, and ofcourse I always relate it to God. While talking though I also had to practise active listening not only to my point of view or seeing things but also what he was saying so I could help him with his real problem not what I might of thought his problem was.

AOD Life Principles

About a week ago I met up with my youth pastor in order to discuss some biblical doctrines and our believes about certain parts of the Bible. We each have beliefs that are different than the others and so we sat down to discuss and seek to find the truth in each of our beliefs and come to some common ground. This is a great example of creative conflict, as we were confronting each other so we could both grow more in our understanding. My youth pastor is intensely interested in spreading what he knows to other people who have not heard it while I would rather grow other christians in their knowledge and help them to know God in a deeper way. It's the beauty of diversity in many ways I suppose. Another AOD concept that I had to practise, with much difficulty I might add, was active listening. Although he would state many things that I would immediately disagree with and want to tell him why I thought they were wrong, I had to continue to search for the meaning in what he was saying while encouraging him to continue and not showing a posture of wanting to speak. I really don't think I did a very good job at this since I am very passionate about what I believe and it is often difficult for me to accept any other view, something I should probably work on.

Rebellion de Bacon

As I was studying up on Bacon's Rebellion I found a totally other view on things from a government site. On the site I found that Bacon was the cousin of the wife of Governor Berkeley and that Berkeley even gave Bacon a spot on the city counsel before he rebelled against him. He rebelled when Berkeley banned traders from trading ammunition with indians and since Bacon was a trader this made him extremely unhappy. Hurricanes, hailstorms, floods, dry spells and economic problems over in the old world contributed to Bacon's and the colonists worrys. At first I thought all this information was totally opposite to what we had learned in the book but when I took a closer look I saw that the information could actually go together. It's good that you had us do this though because it gave us a much broader few of Bacon's rebellion then just the oppinions of a few educational book writers.

The Tobacco Delusion

Despite the fact that the average physician in the 17th century considered tobacco a 'holy herb,' tobacco's rise in popularity should have caused more people to question its credibility. Only eight years after the first tobacco seed was planted by colonist John Rolf 60,000 pounds of tobacco was shipped to England. Demand for tobacco quickly rocketed from 60 thousand pounds in 1620 to 35 million pounds by the year 1700. Citizens of England described the joyous intoxication caused when they inhaled the smoke of tobacco, but there were a few skeptics. King James I rightfully slammed the use of Tobacco in England stating almost by divine revelation the it was "dangerous to the lungs" and harmful to the brain. We know now that this statement is true, but why did not more experts agree with the king? The answer is obvious as it is the same answer to the reason why tobacco manufacturers of today tried to hide the causes of smoking tobacco for so long, acceptance of the public and money. By the 18th century smoking had taken over nearly all of England, it was the thing to do. Spittoons, pipes, tobacco containers could be found laying around any and every tavern, dinner tables, even next to the beds of England residents. The English finally had a hold in the new world and prospects were promising for increasing its territory to accommodate the rapidly overflowing population of England. What good what it do any medical expert to announce the dangers of tobacco to a generation so caught up in this wonder drug? None at all, and acceptance is everything. Tobacco was so popular that even the king didn't have a say in whether or not the culture should accept it or not. Not to mention the addictive feelings of rejuvenation and joyous intoxication sailors reported upon inhaling the drug. What does this say about the human race? A rush and a high is more important than the feeling of accomplishment achieved after a long life worked out by pure strength and determination. Why question the credibility of a perfectly good rush? The answer to to that question could save many from a lot pain, but so many don't want the answer. Momentary pleasures are enough for them, even if it cost their lives.

ARG!

So about this whole ARG business. It seems to me that an ARG is a real life scavenger hunt type game. It seems to me, based on some previous information attained on my online internet mail, that the only real good reason for Craig to assign us this task of reading and blogging about ARG's is that he is actually going to have us play one. This could really make class seriously interesting and add a large amount of spice to me life. Especially since right now life is really stressful and I'm really wanting to fun and excitement. I don't think I could even possibly have a concern about this, what could possibly be concerning about playing a scavenger game and shaking things up a little. This is the reason I decided to participate in running start, out of the ordinary assignments that require more than writing on a piece of paper and reading out of a book. I think all this is really cool though and I'm really glad Craig is really creative with his assignments, unless it all really ends up sucking, then I would be quite unhappy. It's cool though because no one had any idea why he wanted us to read that and of course none of us even considered the idea of him wanting to play one. The reason for this is obvious, we've all been raised in the public school system where interesting and fun assignments are basically against the rules.

Serving Others

Last friday I went with about 8 people from my school to go and clean a lady's house. When we got there there was a van with a handicap sticker on it in the drive way. We had been told that she had a seeing eye dog however that did not click, with me atleast, that that would mean that this lady was fully blind. In the house we found 2 dogs and 2 or 3 cats. I didn't think she was fully blind at first because when she talked to us her eyes were open and she also had a surprisingly good awareness of where movable objects were sitting in her house i.e. her cats. However as me and one my friends, meagan, were cleaning and organizing her office space we came upon some brail bibles and encyclopedia's and things. Not only was this fascinating but it also confirmed to us that maybe she was fully blind. I'm still not sure. Nonetheless, the house smelled like cat pee, especially the office where I had the lovely opportunity of moving some sticky stinky computer cords. I tried not to think about it. My other jobs included vaccuuming with a vacuum that had no ability to get into corners and up against the wall as well as helping Joe, one of the guys who also lived in the house. It was surprising to find that, though he seemed to have a mental disability of some kind, he made wooden chests for homeless family's for free. This gave some reality to these people and made me realize that they were more than just two disabled seniors living together.

Spanish Conquests Summary

The two documents written by two eyewittnesses to the Spanish's slaughter of the natives of the new world are at once thought provoking and stomach churning. They not only describe the way's the spanish contridict their own religious beliefs but also how they torture and even sometimes roast their victims of fires like pigs. One eyewittness, a friar named Anton Montecino, condemns them in a sermon proclaiming that it is their responsibility, by command of God, to love their neighboring natives as fellow man created and engineered by God in his image, not as some animal. When he brought this before the king of Spain the king immediately met up with his advisors to make excuses for the the conquistadors actions in torturing and killing the natives. Their reasoning said that Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was appointed as ruler and king of the universe when he was made pope. Therefore all of his predecessors have authority over all the land of the earth and so the pope gave the spanish all the land in the new world, giving them authority to do whatever they want. They also decided that if the indians would accept the catholic faith and consent to the authority of the king and queen of spain. All this they put in a Spanish document to be read to the indians before every encounter. Another Eyewittness named Bartolome de las casas described the extreme cruelty of the spanish as the killed people of every age, sex and condition. This included pregnant women, sick grandparents and nursing babys while making bets to see who could kill one in the worse way. Bartolome said also that the spanish killed 10 kingdoms worth of atleast 12 million people while not recieving one injury from the natives. He also saw the natives as void of any evil. When they finally decided to fight the spanish back they had only weapons resembling kids toys.

I agree wholeheartedly with friar Anton when he condemns and points out the wrong actions of the spanish against the natives pointing out their obligation to God their Lord and King to love their neighbors as themselves. The kings response to this however is a disgraceful misuse of Biblical truth as he twists the words of Jesus which he says to Peter calling him the rock of which he would build his truth and say instead that Jesus was appointing Peter and ruler of the whole universe. All this to say that any and all successors of Peter's place as pope have authority to give whoever they wish any and all power over anybody and everybody. Jesus is the Lord and Ruler over the world and he commands us in the Bible to love eachother equally. Bartolome's account of the spanish conquest also slightly exaggerates the totality of their brutality. He says that after they destroyed upwords of 12 million natives only 300 survived, he could not have fully known these numbers. However his statement about the natives not being able to understand the spanish document read to them in spanish and therefore died without understanding the catholic faith is very understandable. He also said that all the spanish wanted was gold. This was obvious in the way they ignored the obvious doctrines of their faith as they roasted the natives above campfires. The way the spanish even call themselves christians is detestable and insults every christian who has ever lived.