Sicko is about American healthcare and it's policies, and its message is thrown towards Americans with healthcare in order for them to understand what it really means to have health care in the United States. Many Americans believe that having health care means that they're set and they're covered for almost everything or it's easy to get as long as you're a working citizen, but Moore show's that it's not like that at all. There's many loops on having health care, health insurance companies tries to use all their policies and restriction in order to pay for less, and not have to cover their customers in order to save more money for themselves. Michael Moore does a good job transitioning the film to show that not all healthcare is the same, because after watching the movie for about half an hour you get a bit depressed when seeing how the American government allows insurance companies to scam their customers, and he transitions the film and shows that health insurance in countries that the united states is very fond of is very good, even though it could be seen as "socialist". But he showed that doctors in those countries still make good money, and that they get the same, and for the most part better service than here in the United States. In the UK one of the people said that the UK's healthcare and other "socialist" healthcare is not socialist it's "democratic" (a democracy).
Moore explains how our health care system works, the history of it, and the differences between our healthcare system and a few countries, which being is Canada, The UK and France. Watching this movie made me question our countries leaders even more, because judging from the evidence Moore showed it seems as if the American government does not care about the well being of it's citizens. In the end of the movie Moore never gave a specific answer on how our health system can get better, or the lives of the people he interviewed, and the end was a bit cliché, but all in all the film was good, because it opens up the viewers eyes, especially if they have health insurance.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Illness & Dying Book, Part 3
Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie, Random House, 1997
Every chapter is Mitch's next visit, and Morrie is getting more and more feeble, but his bond with Mitch grows from student, to mentor, to almost father figure. Tuesdays With Morrie is the perfect book at showing how friendship can be obtained no matter age differences. Every time i read Tuesdays With Morrie I get a new theme, or idea, lately i've been getting that people should enjoy there lives, and love their family members no matter what, because you never know. And be appreciative of what we have in our lives, because not too many people appreciate or think about a family member dying.
Every chapter is Mitch's next visit, and Morrie is getting more and more feeble, but his bond with Mitch grows from student, to mentor, to almost father figure. Tuesdays With Morrie is the perfect book at showing how friendship can be obtained no matter age differences. Every time i read Tuesdays With Morrie I get a new theme, or idea, lately i've been getting that people should enjoy there lives, and love their family members no matter what, because you never know. And be appreciative of what we have in our lives, because not too many people appreciate or think about a family member dying.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Illness & Dying Book, Part 2
Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie, Random House, 1997
Not much has changed since my last post in the book, besides the different events that occur every tuesday when Mitch goes to visit Morrie. The main idea i came up with last week about the story hasn't changed yet. I think that the main idea is, everyday is a new day, in one's life, and everyday one's life is coming to the end, but how one chooses to live their lives before and after becoming ill is entirely up to them. So far in the story Mitch has been visiting Morrie and every time it seems like Morrie is becoming more ill, but more vivacious about seeing people. In one chapter Morrie had a funeral for himself, while he was alive in order to hear his love ones thoughts of him. And during the funeral Morrie and his loved ones laughed and cried together, which brought me to a question. Did Morrie do all that in order to get more attention by his loved ones, to feel better, and did that time with his loved ones make him happier or more sad? I would assume in that case if someone is strong minded they'd be happier in order to have loved ones to care about them ti'll the end and have the opportunity to hear it. But on the flip-side, one can get more sad to die knowing that they have relatives that love them and not know what will happen next. Tuesday With Morries is pretty good read, it's pretty dead on about peoples experiences with illness and death. Maybe that's because it's an auto-biography but if you compare it to anyone you know's story or you're own experience you'll find many similarities, and can probably compare it to almost anything.
Not much has changed since my last post in the book, besides the different events that occur every tuesday when Mitch goes to visit Morrie. The main idea i came up with last week about the story hasn't changed yet. I think that the main idea is, everyday is a new day, in one's life, and everyday one's life is coming to the end, but how one chooses to live their lives before and after becoming ill is entirely up to them. So far in the story Mitch has been visiting Morrie and every time it seems like Morrie is becoming more ill, but more vivacious about seeing people. In one chapter Morrie had a funeral for himself, while he was alive in order to hear his love ones thoughts of him. And during the funeral Morrie and his loved ones laughed and cried together, which brought me to a question. Did Morrie do all that in order to get more attention by his loved ones, to feel better, and did that time with his loved ones make him happier or more sad? I would assume in that case if someone is strong minded they'd be happier in order to have loved ones to care about them ti'll the end and have the opportunity to hear it. But on the flip-side, one can get more sad to die knowing that they have relatives that love them and not know what will happen next. Tuesday With Morries is pretty good read, it's pretty dead on about peoples experiences with illness and death. Maybe that's because it's an auto-biography but if you compare it to anyone you know's story or you're own experience you'll find many similarities, and can probably compare it to almost anything.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Illness & Dying Book Part 1
Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie, Random House, 1997
Tuesdays with Morrie, is a non-fictional story of an elderly college professor named Morrie Schwartz who's dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. The narrator of the story Mitch Albom was Morrie's former student, who sees Morrie as his mentor, and through out the book, Mitch and Morries relationship was from a teacher mentoring a younger person to becoming good friends with an age gap. In the beginning of the story Morrie asked many common questions when he found out that he had ALS “Why is this happening to me?” or when he left the doctors office and so people going on with their lives he asked “How come no one knows what’s going on with me?” and than right after he said “I guess it doesn’t mater if I die, either way life goes on” I found that significant, because I always wondered what I’d say if I were in that situation, an he basically said it, but I also was surprised how within that moment he found out he was dying, he came to the conclusion and obvious answer that life does go on, even if your life is coming to an end.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a perfect book for this unit because it covers everything we’ve been talking about in class, from young person learning and becoming friends with someone who’s older than them and sees them as a mentor to learn from. The emotional effects of illness and death, how others treat those who are ill or who are ill feel, and the thoughts they think of when they have an exact amount of time to live. This unit and book has given me some new ways to look at illness and dying, for instance everyone who is dying from an illness, they look at things a few ways, deal with it and go on with their lives or mope about it and wait. In Tuesdays with Morrie at first Morrie seemed like he was going to sit and wait, but tried to do things even though he was becoming more and more immobile.
The thing about illness and death is that they don't discriminate, it affects everything and everyone, your pets, your loved ones, yourself, either way everyone has different experiences that are similar. Whether it's watching a love one dying in front of you, or not knowing someone who's died, people die all the time, and just like Morrie said "Life goes on". And who knows if death is good or bad, but without death, their wouldn't be any balance.
Tuesdays with Morrie, is a non-fictional story of an elderly college professor named Morrie Schwartz who's dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. The narrator of the story Mitch Albom was Morrie's former student, who sees Morrie as his mentor, and through out the book, Mitch and Morries relationship was from a teacher mentoring a younger person to becoming good friends with an age gap. In the beginning of the story Morrie asked many common questions when he found out that he had ALS “Why is this happening to me?” or when he left the doctors office and so people going on with their lives he asked “How come no one knows what’s going on with me?” and than right after he said “I guess it doesn’t mater if I die, either way life goes on” I found that significant, because I always wondered what I’d say if I were in that situation, an he basically said it, but I also was surprised how within that moment he found out he was dying, he came to the conclusion and obvious answer that life does go on, even if your life is coming to an end.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a perfect book for this unit because it covers everything we’ve been talking about in class, from young person learning and becoming friends with someone who’s older than them and sees them as a mentor to learn from. The emotional effects of illness and death, how others treat those who are ill or who are ill feel, and the thoughts they think of when they have an exact amount of time to live. This unit and book has given me some new ways to look at illness and dying, for instance everyone who is dying from an illness, they look at things a few ways, deal with it and go on with their lives or mope about it and wait. In Tuesdays with Morrie at first Morrie seemed like he was going to sit and wait, but tried to do things even though he was becoming more and more immobile.
The thing about illness and death is that they don't discriminate, it affects everything and everyone, your pets, your loved ones, yourself, either way everyone has different experiences that are similar. Whether it's watching a love one dying in front of you, or not knowing someone who's died, people die all the time, and just like Morrie said "Life goes on". And who knows if death is good or bad, but without death, their wouldn't be any balance.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Expert #1
Insights & Experiences
1. Seeing a love one dying in front of you.
2. Seeing each state of them dying.
3. "Bittersweet", because her husband was diagnosed thanksgiving eve.
4. How both her sons had different effects during the time he was sick and after he died.
5. Not like the movies.
Beth coming in today and sharing her story was a bit of an emotional topic for me, even though I don't have much experience with death in my life. But hearing someone who saw their love ones basically parish in front of them, was tough to imagine, and made me keep constantly asking myself, "what if this happened to me?” and "wow they seem to handle it pretty well, by being able to share this with us". Because if I lost someone that close to me, I’d probably be depressed for years, and couldn't even have the courage to talk about it. One of the things she said today that I found interesting was when she said, "it was a bittersweet moment" when her husband was diagnosed thanksgiving eve. It showed me how much a holiday means to people, and how we've been taught to see thanksgiving as this holiday where it's all about family, which is where I can see why that was a bit bitter, because it's suppose to be a holiday that's about being around family, and to be told that you may lose a relative the day before a family holiday sounds, and in a way is heart wrenching. The other part that I found powerful was Beth's dedication in taking care of Eric, cleaning feeding, basically everything for him, instead of have him being taken cared of by "strangers", which is something that most of the times is common, and to want to have that relative in their home, and have them die their to me is much better than having them die somewhere where thousands of others died around strangers. Beth not having the fear and not minding having her husband die in front of her at her home was powerful, because it seems like she'd be constantly reminded of him from the beginning to the end.
1. Seeing a love one dying in front of you.
2. Seeing each state of them dying.
3. "Bittersweet", because her husband was diagnosed thanksgiving eve.
4. How both her sons had different effects during the time he was sick and after he died.
5. Not like the movies.
Beth coming in today and sharing her story was a bit of an emotional topic for me, even though I don't have much experience with death in my life. But hearing someone who saw their love ones basically parish in front of them, was tough to imagine, and made me keep constantly asking myself, "what if this happened to me?” and "wow they seem to handle it pretty well, by being able to share this with us". Because if I lost someone that close to me, I’d probably be depressed for years, and couldn't even have the courage to talk about it. One of the things she said today that I found interesting was when she said, "it was a bittersweet moment" when her husband was diagnosed thanksgiving eve. It showed me how much a holiday means to people, and how we've been taught to see thanksgiving as this holiday where it's all about family, which is where I can see why that was a bit bitter, because it's suppose to be a holiday that's about being around family, and to be told that you may lose a relative the day before a family holiday sounds, and in a way is heart wrenching. The other part that I found powerful was Beth's dedication in taking care of Eric, cleaning feeding, basically everything for him, instead of have him being taken cared of by "strangers", which is something that most of the times is common, and to want to have that relative in their home, and have them die their to me is much better than having them die somewhere where thousands of others died around strangers. Beth not having the fear and not minding having her husband die in front of her at her home was powerful, because it seems like she'd be constantly reminded of him from the beginning to the end.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying
In my family death isn't something to common, because I come from a small family. As a child I always asked questions about life and death, I had a weird fascination about why we die what happens when we die. At first I was scared because if I died I’d miss my family and "never see them again", but as I got older I questions if that's true or false, what if when we die we do go to some happy spiritual world, and can see our families again, but one thing I accepted was that we all will die someday. As I started to accept that fact I became less scared of death. My family never scared me about death or hid the topic of death, and they didn't give me their ideas of what they think happens, they tell me what happens from a living stand point. Such as how they're remembered, how they're bodies are buried or cremated, but they always say I’m not sure what happens when someone dies, but who knows we'll find out someday.
My mother and I don't talk about death as much as I did and sometimes do with my grandmother and grandaunts. My mother and I don't talk about it not because it scares us, but when we did it was basically an I’m not sure why" conversation, but she said everyone's life is different, we all have different experiences, so someone's death may not be the same as someone else even if the end result is death.
The other reason my mother does not think about death so much is because there’s only been two deaths in my family which was my great grandfather and great grandmother, my mom was more affected by my great grandmothers death because she was closer to her, but not my great grandfathers because they rarely saw each other. And I haven’t witnessed any yet, which I haven’t been affected by a death, and it’s been a while for my mother so we’re neutral.
My mother and I don't talk about death as much as I did and sometimes do with my grandmother and grandaunts. My mother and I don't talk about it not because it scares us, but when we did it was basically an I’m not sure why" conversation, but she said everyone's life is different, we all have different experiences, so someone's death may not be the same as someone else even if the end result is death.
The other reason my mother does not think about death so much is because there’s only been two deaths in my family which was my great grandfather and great grandmother, my mom was more affected by my great grandmothers death because she was closer to her, but not my great grandfathers because they rarely saw each other. And I haven’t witnessed any yet, which I haven’t been affected by a death, and it’s been a while for my mother so we’re neutral.
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