The Message Behind Behind the Beautiful Forevers

    My choice summer reading book was Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. One of the many messages in this book is that there are different levels of poverty. Not all poor people are the same. There is no set mold for poor, and if there was, no one would fit.

    The Husains and Sunil are on different levels of poverty, as the Husains are richer than Sunil and more fortunate as well. Both the Husains and Sunil are in the garbage business. However, Sunil is a scavenger and a thief and the Husains own a garbage trading business. For instance, whenever Sunil is with Abdul Husain like on the last page, itis almost like Abdul is looking down on him. For a living, Sunil goes and walks around the airport digging through dumpsters for trash that’s “valuable” to trade and make a living. Who does he trade them to? Abdul. Even their housing is not equal. The Husains live in a nice hut with stone walls while Sunil is on the streets. All of this goes to show that even those in the same business are poor in different ways. Different jobs might have more or less money paid for doing it. Abdul Husain makes more money for his family than Sunil does for his, so the Husains have much better, nicer things than Sunil and his sister. This may not seem fair, but it’s life. Both families work equally as hard, but the Husains are just on the better end of the business than Sunil. The Husains in the beginning of the story can even afford to renovate their house. This is because their end of the business is more lucrative than Sunil’s even though Sunil works just as hard.

    Another group of people that are on different levels of poverty are Asha and Manju as compared to Fatima the One Leg. Fatima is widely scorned across the slum for her raucous behavior. She is a nuisance for slumlord Asha and her daughter Manju, a college student. When Fatima accuses the Husains of beating her after they get in a fight about the Husains’ because they were getting sand in her rice and “making too much noise,” Asha only sighs and shakes her head. Only out of courtesy does she offer the Husains to give Fatima a bribe to keep quiet.  Still set on revenge, Fatima dumps kerosene on herself and sets herself on fire. Both Asha and Manju are unbothered by this and very annoyed. Fatima is the exact opposite of Asha and Manju. While Fatima is a one legged prostitute married to a drunk, Asha works for several charities, is a member of an affluent political party, and is slowly making her way into the middle class. Manju might even become the slum’s first female college graduate! These women are as different as they come no only when it comes to their level of poverty, but how desperate for recognition they are as well.

    To conclude, there are different levels of poor. There is no poor mold and all poor people are different. Even in the same business or the same gender there are differences. When today’s society thinks of poor, people think living on the streets begging for change, while in reality, it’s so much more.

And Then There Were None Metacognitive Blog

In my first draft, I had some errors in word choice, I fixed them in my revisions. I also had an area in my part II where the flow of the paragraphs was off. I was told that it was a very abrupt and confusing subject change. The forms of support that helped me the most were the peer review and having an adult read it. This was specific to my current paper instead of towards past work. It was also more interactive. I think all of the forms of support should still be used, as they were all very helpful. I know that I have room to improve my flow of writing because my sentences are a little choppy sometimes.

Just Between Us

On Doctor-Patient Confidentiality and the First Amendment

 

  Picture this; you are a defense lawyer in a courtroom, and your client, a doctor, has been sued.  The doctor claims that he has the right of free speech, and should be allowed to talk about his patients whenever he'd like, but the lawsuit says otherwise.  According to the prosecutor, your client has violated the terms of doctor-patient confidentiality and owes him 500,000 dollars in damage. After a heated courtroom debate, the verdict is out.  It looks like Dr. Blabbermouth has to pay up, and fast!

 

  This situation is becoming more and more common across the country as more doctors rights are being infringed. From seemingly good to perfectly dreadful, new laws are being passed about what doctors are and aren't allowed to talk about. This brings up the question of what counts as speech that can be protected by the First Amendment.  Many people only count "speech" as advertising, protesting, or even casual conversation. The problem here is that not enough people count talking to a doctor as valid conversation, or "real speech".  This is their privacy at stake! There is nothing more important than keeping that strange lump on your chest a secret, right?  Wrong.

 

  Believe it or not, there is a higher law of the land than pinky swearing to keep a *eh hem* "large freckle" a secret, and it is called the Constitution of the United States of America.  Ever heard of it?  If not, then let me inform you that the Constitution is the highest form of law in the land to be obeyed above all else.  The Constitution protects our most basic rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as well as freedom of speech.  Sound familiar? It should.  This is from the United States Declaration of Independence, or to non Americans, these are the words of enlightenment philosopher John Locke.  According to Locke, every human being is endowed with these unalienable rights since the moment we are born.  Who are you to take away our most basic of all basic rights?  That's it, no one.  No body can infringe upon our rights.  This country was founded upon the ideals of freedom; liberty and justice to all! To refuse this to any person would be Un-American.

 

To conclude, all forms of interpersonal communication counts as "speech", and all Americans no matter what their profession should be under the protection of the Constitution.  Remember this next time you are at the doctor's office or in a hospital and think of the most basic rights of all human beings and the highest law of the land.

 

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