Landon Julson
Period 4


Race

    Race really has not had a huge impact on my life and how I live but I can tell that it has effected those around me.  I mean I hear a racist joke almost every day but in today’s world I see it as socially acceptable mainly because its just for humor not in a way to offend anyone.  If someone was to say I am racist I would get mad at them because I am honestly not.  I will laugh at a racist based joke but I don’t intend to hurt any feelings.  I feel no hatred for another race just because they are different. I think people get too overwhelmed and take things the wrong way because we are all different and we just don’t know the other race from their viewpoint.  An example of how race has effected people around me is my grandfather.  He was raised in a time where saying ni**er was not wrong and using it wasn’t looked down upon.  To this day I still catch him saying it sometimes and it just shows how it was something that was acceptable to his generation just like my generation with jokes.  I think that people loose trust for a race and start to discriminate and generalize against them when they see one thing bad happen.  Honestly we all screw up and do stupid things every once in a while without our race being an influence.  Day to day I don’t see race making a huge impact on how I live and go about things.



Gender

   
    Gender is something that I really overlook when it comes to other people.  I’m not one to be choosy about a person weather they are boy or girl, I think that’s rather immature. I am friends with lots of different girls and have lot of buds as well.  The only time gender plays a role into a daily decision for example would be the activities I want to do.  If the guys call me up and we take my boat out fishing that’s something that bro’s do without girls but if I’m going to go to a movie or go to a party there is always either girls there or I bring them along.  I think the people that cant get over someone’s gender are going to turn out very timid in life because you have to learn to accept anybody.  I mean yeah I may be shy with new people at first and with girls it is sometimes easier to be shy around but eventually I get very comfortable being around other people.  In my daily life the only gender split things I see is the bathrooms, honestly.  I see girls working jobs a guy can do and visa versa.  There’s nothing wrong with that but I don’t take the time to think about it.  Gender is something that doesn’t effect me and when I look at my friends it doesn’t effect them either.  I think that people are getting used to the topic of equality and most of us understand that.

Social Class

    I can say that I see social class issues all the time. Each and everyday, and its sad because its usually seeing something bad or something that you can tell is making life difficult for people.  I’m in the middle class and I see it from two perspectives that really make me believe that this is where I want to stay even if its hard at some points.  I see people that can hardly get by, drive really crappy cars (not to sound like a prick) and their live is difficult. They seem to be living pay check to pay check trying their hardest to get by and that’s not a good thing because there could be kids or old people who really need a stable life and are not having one.  I also see a side that really pisses me off mainly because they are usually the arrogant ones.  That’s the people in high class that think they have life by the ass with all of their money and kind manners.  So what if I don’t eat a 5 star meal at night or dress in really great clothes every day.  Ill gladly make myself mac and cheese when I get home from work and eat watching tv.  People like that tend to only worry about themselves which to a point you have to but there are times that you need to be grateful and help out others in dire need of help.  I have had situations where I don’t see eye to eye with someone who is in high class because they say whatever they want to just because they think they can.  I got pretty mad and chewed them out, making them feel great about the class they are in, but in the end it wasn’t worth it because if I’m fine then whatever ill just carry on with my day.  Social class is something that I really do see as something that effects me because its in my every day life and I always see the negative ones like the lower class and upper class that always but heads in public and even in life.  Its best to just stick with the class you’re in and just live it to the fullest and make every day count.


Gender Equality

    I think gender equality is something that really has faded away in modern day society because I really don’t see it too much like people in the generation of my parents did.  Today if I hear about gender equality its usually in a work place or a place where poverty levels are higher or the government isn’t strong and over powering.  When I talked to my grandfather about gender equality he remembered it as a voting issue and a war issue more than anything and those were two places that it really did hit home.  Today we don’t see it as a voting or war issue at all because both woman and men can do both.  What he told me was that it was just socially awkward to see a woman do a mans job and if they did it better it was really something that raised eyebrows.  I think that today we are or at least try to be very equal in our lives that this isn’t a high rising issue that I see.