Your life on Earth Project
My Sense of Place: Indian Creek
One step closer
Closer to the red sandstone cliffs
And the aching pain in my calfs as I move my legs
I feel the heat begin to build from the sun
I look ahead and begin to countdown in my head
100...99...98...
I crave the shade that is blankly situated under the towering cliffs
Like desert giants that froze in time
Quietly keeping to itself
My thoughts wash down deep in the unknown
Swallowed whole
All at once
I think to myself
How can someone not find peace here
How can they not realize that this is right here, is the meaning of life
Being all alone out in the middle of nowhere
Having the ability to decide who and what and where and when
You are the one who decides to makes ones way to the desert
I look down at the vast empty canyon a thousand feet below
A ocean of lavender covers the red dirt on the valley floor
Every flower has a life of its own
The valley is covered in dirt roads
Like veins of different sizes
All connected
But all go to different places
Occasionally you run into a cow or two that appears from nowhere
Simply bothering no one
This is my sense of place
Indian Creek, under the towering red giants
One step closer
Closer to the red sandstone cliffs
And the aching pain in my calfs as I move my legs
I feel the heat begin to build from the sun
I look ahead and begin to countdown in my head
100...99...98...
I crave the shade that is blankly situated under the towering cliffs
Like desert giants that froze in time
Quietly keeping to itself
My thoughts wash down deep in the unknown
Swallowed whole
All at once
I think to myself
How can someone not find peace here
How can they not realize that this is right here, is the meaning of life
Being all alone out in the middle of nowhere
Having the ability to decide who and what and where and when
You are the one who decides to makes ones way to the desert
I look down at the vast empty canyon a thousand feet below
A ocean of lavender covers the red dirt on the valley floor
Every flower has a life of its own
The valley is covered in dirt roads
Like veins of different sizes
All connected
But all go to different places
Occasionally you run into a cow or two that appears from nowhere
Simply bothering no one
This is my sense of place
Indian Creek, under the towering red giants
The big question for the “Your Life on Earth” project was to answer what our purpose on this earth was. For me I really wanted to emphasise the idea of purpose of life is in nature. I decided to base my project on my sense of place. A sense of place can be different for anyone, it can be in a living room, a hike, or a swimming pool. For me my sense of place is in Indian Creek Utah. When I take trips out there I feel very alone and isolated. There isn't a lot of development there at all and for some reason I really like that.
I believe my purpose on this earth is to be happy, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working away. I don’t believe there is an afterlife or that my sole stays on the earth to help generations after it. We only have one life and everyone should live life knowing that. I want to spend my life adventuring and experiencing what the world has to offer. After this project I realized how different everyone's philosophical ideas are. It would be really hard for everyone on the planet to have the same view. We all need to have different views to be problem solvers and thinkers. It’s ok to think and possibly doubt your existence on this earth.
I never really thought too much about my existence and my purpose on this earth. I wonder now if I will change any of my options about my religion or my
Will I ever be religious?
What will make me be religious?
How does religion guide people in life?
What would people do if they don’t have religion?
What would the world look like if there was not religion?
What would the world look like if everyone believed in the same thing?
I believe my purpose on this earth is to be happy, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working away. I don’t believe there is an afterlife or that my sole stays on the earth to help generations after it. We only have one life and everyone should live life knowing that. I want to spend my life adventuring and experiencing what the world has to offer. After this project I realized how different everyone's philosophical ideas are. It would be really hard for everyone on the planet to have the same view. We all need to have different views to be problem solvers and thinkers. It’s ok to think and possibly doubt your existence on this earth.
I never really thought too much about my existence and my purpose on this earth. I wonder now if I will change any of my options about my religion or my
Will I ever be religious?
What will make me be religious?
How does religion guide people in life?
What would people do if they don’t have religion?
What would the world look like if there was not religion?
What would the world look like if everyone believed in the same thing?
Willingness to be Disturbed Project
Reflection
Maddie Sturm
Personally I feel like this project hasn't necessarily changed my perspective for keeping planned parenthood funded by the government, but instead has opened my mind and I was able to see the other perspective and their values to support it. I never looked into the other side of the issue my opinion was very biased because I didn't know much about the other side. When I was researching the other side of the topic, I found that most of the information was mostly opinionated. The facts that supported it seemed to be based off of other people’s opinions, therefore finding statistics was very hard.
I realized that I feel very strongly about women's rights. I knew before that I thought that everyone is equal and everyone should have equal rights. After writing the papers I realized that women are still not being treated with respect because of the lack of affordable healthcare. I feel like it’s very important to supply necessary healthcare for young women who can’t afford to go to a doctor. Supplying sexual knowledge and birth control will lead to less abortions from happening in the first place, and that’s why it’s really important to have companies accessible, like Planned Parenthood.
A lot of the reliable websites I found seemed to be about religion. It made sense to not support something that is against your religion. A lot of other sources didn't want abortions to happen at all. They thought if abortions were very accessible, it would make it easier to get an abortion rather that putting the child up for adoption and or keeping it. They also thought that if the government is giving the taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood it is still supporting abortions, because it is paying the workers and keeping the company up and running.
As a country we need to have an equal balance of each side of the topic. Without this, it would be very unbalanced and I believe it would be much more extreme. I think democracy is good to balance the two. Without democracy the people would not have their voices heard and it would make people more upset. I think everyone should be heard and voting seems to do so.
I really don’t like how this topic is considered a political topic. I think it should not be, because it is very sensitive and it has to do with the human freedom to take care of your body. Making this topic so political will slowly leave out the human values. Politically I stand more on the liberal side of this topic. I have always stood on this side because it resonated with my values more. I don’t think anything would change my views on this topic.
I think that it’s very important to listen to other people’s beliefs. When you just ignore the other side than it’s really hard to make assumptions about their beliefs and what type of people they are. Each person is entitled to believe in what they want, and they have their own values. It’s ok to just support one side, although it’s even more important to listen to other people’s reasons.
Should woman have access to affordable healthcare across the country?
Part One
I believe that the only person who is involved in the choice is the woman who is having the abortion. I think it’s wrong and not right for someone to be making decisions, like abortion. In the past decade facilities like Planned Parenthood have been threatened and shut down from the government. Some reasons why the government has been trying to shut down these facilities because they practice abortions and that might affect people religiously, spiritually, and morally. It is important to continue to funding these programs that try and prevent abortions from happening in the first place.
As a young women I should be able to get birth control without paying a lot of money for it. Planned Parenthood helps young people, like myself have affordable access to birth control to practice safe sex. Without Planned Parenthood, women would not be able to get access to health care and that would lead to a higher demand for abortions. I should have the right to do whatever I need to to take care of my body. Whether that is for an abortion or birth control. Unfortunately the government is who has the decision on whether or not abortion should be a thing in this country and the not the people who are actually involved with abortion. If I accidentally became pregnant then I would want to know that I have the choice to take back the accident that happened and not have to go through such a big life experience called pregnancy at this stage in my life.
I think it would be completely unfair if someone was raped and they had to give birth to the baby, or if being pregnant during a time that could affect your career or life. I knew of a girl who accidentally got pregnant while she was in college. For some women it would work out to go through pregnancy and raise the child after it was born. She couldn't do this because she was afraid of the impact and negative attention it would draw to her during school and work . She was very involved in sports and the pregnancy would cause her to not be able to play during the 9 months. If she couldn't play for the 9 months then she would lose her scholarship for the school she was going to. Lucky for her she was able to have an abortion and she didn't have to worry about the future consequences if she were to go through the pregnancy and had to possibly raise the child. I don’t think anyone besides the the woman who is pregnant should make the choice whether or not she aborts the baby.
Growing up around lots of women I have developed the idea that everyone should have appropriate access to whatever health care they need for themselves. I frustrates me when someone bashes on planned parenthood just because they don’t like abortions. No one likes abortions, no one wants an abortion. That's what people don’t get, having Planned Parenthood supply information and birth control is what prevents abrasion from happening in the first place. Personally I feel like it would be immoral for the government to take away any type of health care that makes our country healthy. Without this type of accessible, affordable health care woman from all around the country would have to pay more for it and it would be harder for them to get access to health care that they need to be healthy.
Going to a normal doctor without health insurance for birth control is going to cost way more than stopping by at Planned Parenthood. In know a lot of people in my life who go to Planned Parenthood to get affordable health care. My mom and her friends go to Planned Parenthood to get mammograms every month to see if they have cancer. One woman had breast cancer and she went to planned Parenthood to take care of it. A bunch of young women in my school go to Planned Parenthood to get affordable birth control, otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford it. Planned Parenthood actually goes to schools to educate the freshman students about safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases. Taking away this important resource for families and woman all over the country will affect more people than do any good. Affordable health care should be available to anyone for any type of issue they need help with, and that's just what Planned Parenthood is doing. We should be opening more facilities and making the company bigger rather than taking them down.
Why the Government should continue to Fund Planned Parenthood?
Part Two
It is necessary for a woman to have access to affordable healthcare, keeping facilities like Planned Parenthood funded by the government to ensure this. In 1948, the UN issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity”(UDHR, United Nations.) This entitles the right for women to chose what she is able to do with her body, including abortion. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. With the facilities like Planned Parenthood, a non profit organization, helps women and families all over the country have access to affordable health care. Having health care that is accessible and affordable should be required to develop a healthy, equal country. Having a facility, like Planned Parenthood, is important for women to get the help care they need right away. Most women in the United States are being charged too much for basic checkups, like a mammogram or for birth control.
One of the bigger problems for anti-abortion supporters think that the tax money is going to all of the things they do in Planned Parenthood. In fact it is illegal to fund abortions with tax money, the money isn't actually isn't going to the abortions. “An important reminder: The federal money that goes to the organization cannot be used to underwrite its abortion services except in some rare exceptions (Ruth Marcus).” It hard to punish the government for supporting abortions, when the government isn't funding abortions. At Planned Parenthood the money is helping pay for birth control, sexually education, and other health care needs women need, to prevent abortions happening in the first place. “You’re removing contraception with this [defunding], and if you remove contraception, you get unintended pregnancies, which means more abortion,” (Joseph Potter.) Planned Parenthood supplies birth control and information about sexual education to local high schools. When I was a freshman, Planned Parenthood came to my school to educate educate me and my peers about safe sex and STDs. Without affordable health care like Planned Parenthood young women will be more likely to getting pregnant and get more abortions from unwanted pregnancies. People lacking the educated available at Planned Parenthood, can come in anytime to get informed about how to be less prone to unwanted pregnancy and STDs.
Parenthood and even other facilities around the United States provide necessary health education for all types of people, man, woman, young and old. “Planned Parenthood is a respected leader in educating Americans about reproductive and sexual health. We deliver comprehensive sex education that empowers all people to make informed choices and lead healthy lives.” (Planned Parenthood.) This is something that Planned Parenthood values a lot. They want to ensure that every human being has access to sexual health education. “Planned Parenthood is proud of its vital role in providing young people with honest sexuality and relationship information in classrooms and online to help reduce our nation’s alarmingly high rates of unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Planned Parenthood affiliates provide educational programs and outreach to 1.5 million young people and adults every year.” (Planned Parenthood.) Without the facilities like Planned Parenthood, people would have a harder time getting educated about sexual health, luckily anyone can go to Planned Parenthood nearby and get the sexual education they need.
People don't support Planned Parenthood because they believe abortions are wrong. People have gone to the extreme to make Planned Parenthood look bad to the public. “Every step of the way, extremists have vilified our work to help women. They have consistently spread false information, used physical violence and the threat of violence, as well as political and legal harassment in their attempts to stop our work. The latest attacks, using deceptively recorded and edited videos, are no different.” (The Denver Post.) Planned Parenthood has been attacked because it clashes with some other people's beliefs. There has been cases where people have attacked Planned Parenthood facilities and killed the people who were working there and patients. I don't think people understand that Planned Parenthood is trying to prevent abortions by educating them about safe sax and providing affordable birth control to even prevent unwanted pregnancy from happening.
Woman need to have access and affordable healthcare, keeping facilities like Planned Parenthood funded by the government is necessary for keeping citizens healthy and educated. Having Planned Parenthood funded by the government will help educate the public about safe sex, and provide different types of birth control. In the long run this will result in unwanted pregnancies and preventing abortions from even happening.
Work Cited "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1." (1948): n. pag. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Marcus, Ruth. "Opinions Defunding Planned Parenthood Would Actually Increase Abortions." The Washington Post. N.p., 30 July 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Parenthood, Planned. "Who We Are." Planned Parenthood. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Special. "No, Planned Parenthood Should Not Lose Its Federal Funding." The Denver Post. N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Why the Government Should not Fund Planned Parenthood?
Part Three
Everyone should have the right to life, the government’s funding is supporting abortion around the United States. Planned Parenthood and other facilities that are performing abortions should not be funded by the government. “The right to life is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another human being.” (Wikipedia.) The child can’t defend it’s life while it’s inside the womb. Killing unborn babies is immoral to the baby. Anyone can walk in and have an abortion at Planned Parenthood. It is really easy and accessible for a woman to request an abortion no matter what her situation is. This makes it really easy for the woman to not put the child up for adoption or keep it. They can abort the baby and not have to worry about taking care of it or dealing with it when it’s born. They don’t need to deal with the responsibilities of having a child.
Abortion can harm a woman mentally and physically for the rest of her life. Living with the fact that your baby has died, not by accident but by choice, will affect the rest of your life and will make you feel awful. Nancy Flanders from Live Action News interviewed numerous women who regretted getting an abortion. These are just a few people who were interviewed. “The suction machine was turned on, causing tremendous pain. I was frightened, it hurt so much. I wanted to scream. I wanted it to stop. I suddenly knew there was a baby inside. They were killing my baby!” (Michaelene Jenkins), “I was told that I would be out for eight minutes and I would feel only a little discomfort afterwards. They lied, it ruined 10 years of my life.” (Mae Abbott), “Please understand that by aborting your unborn child, that does not make the baby go away. Your baby will be in your heart until you die. After abortion – the guilt, shame and loneliness is horrible. Once you abort, you cannot go back and change it.” (Lisa Burroughs.) As you can tell many women regret the decision of aborting their child(ren). Making abortion clinics very assessable will make it easier a women to get an abortion. Later on in their lives they will feel regret and unease about the decision they have made. Knowing that you have made the intentional decision to purposely murder your child will live with you and the people close to you for the rest of your life.
Keeping facilities open like Planned Parenthood is paying to support abortions. Even though it’s illegal to directly fund abortions, they are still funding the company which performs the abortions. “More taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood equals more abortions [and] fewer adoption referrals.” Claims sba, from the article 12 reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood. “From 2000 to 2013, taxpayer funding shunted to Planned Parenthood jumped from $202,000,000 in 2000 to $528,400,000 in 2013. In 2000, Planned Parenthood performed 197,070 abortions while making 2,486 adoption referrals. In 2013, they performed 327,653 abortions and made just 1,880 adoption referrals. That means a percent increase in taxpayer funding resulted in a 66 percent increase in the number of abortions and a 61 percent decrease in the number of adoption referrals.” Funding Planned Parenthood makes it easier for a woman to get an abortion than to put the baby up for adoption. The increase in the taxpayer money increases the amount of abortions happening. The more facilities open and running, the more abortions.
Everyone needs to have the right to life, whether if it’s a unborn baby or a 100 year old. They need to have the respect and the ability to live life they way they want to live it without having anybody to stop them. The government’s funding for Planned Parenthood is supporting abortion around the United States. Having an abortions can ham a woman by devastating her mental state with the decision she has made and the knowledge that Keeping facilities like Planned Parenthood is still paying to support abortions. They are keeping the doors open and paying the employees. It’s our job to protect people. We have to stand up for the people who can’t speak or defend themselves. We need to preserve the precious gift of life.
Works Cited
Flanders, Nancy K. "Women Share Their Post-abortion Pain and Regret | Live Action News." Live Action News. N.p., 10 May 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
"Top 12 Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood Now - Susan B. Anthony List." Susan B Anthony List. N.p., 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
"Right to Life." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.