Obama's State of the Union Address

I really liked Obama's speech. I agree with the majority of what he said. I think it is so important for the American people to work together and trying to solve the problems our country is facing for the greater good of the entire country. It was really awesome to see democrats and republicans sitting together and at times clapping together, and it makes me believe in the future of America a little more. Although we all have different perspectives and view points, it is important for Americans to put aside their differences and work for the greater good instead of their personal desires. Obama is speaking to all the people, not just one party. He is trying to persuade everyone to unite and come together as the united country we say we are. I also really liked what he said about education. The future of America is in the hands of the children, who will eventually be running everything. In order for our country to be the best place it can be, it is vital that all American children have an equal opportunity to aquire as much knowledge as they can about the world and about the vast amount of opportunities available to them through the pursuit of knowledge. It is so important that teenagers and children are lucky enough to have inspirational, caring, and intelligent teachers like we at Deerfield are so lucky to have. Without education, there is no possibility for the future; in order to figure out what else is out there, everyone has to know what already exists. Despite all of the criticism and hate that people send in Obama's direction, I think this speech was really inspiring and hopeful. He helped me be more optimistic about the future and I think that is what make him a good president. He is not focused on personal benefit nor supporting only one party's beliefs. Instead, he's trying to help the greater good and bring the counry together. Some call this socialist, I think he is what the country really needs if Amerians just work with him and stop fighting with eachother because it is not getting us anywhere. If anything, it is holding us back.

"Beautiful Boy" Response 3: Methamphetimine

The most prominent and apparent issue in this book is drug and alcohol abuse. David Sheff does a beautiful job of illustrating and recounting his son, Nic’s, addiction to methamphetamine. From a frighteningly young age, Nic’s relationship with drugs and alcohol began and continued to escalate. Sheff describes all the factors that go along with drug addiction including personality changes, the hurt and pain it results in for family members and loved ones, and the numerous attempts to become and remain clean. He wrote all about methamphetamine; described its history, popularity, and destruction. It has been and continues to be one of the most abused drugs in the United States. Meth destroys a person on the inside and outside. It can change a good kid into a criminal; a monster. “Meth use is an epidemic in many states, but the enormity of the problem has only recently been acknowledged in Washington, partly because of the lag between the time it took for the newest wave of addicts to fill up the nation’s hospitals, rehab facilities, and jails. Former Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson called methamphetamine ‘the number one drug problem in America.’ It is overwhelming law enforcement, policy-makers, and health-care systems.” (111) In health class sophomore year, I learned a little about meth and irreparable damage it causes to those who are addicted to it. Sheff brought life to this issue. With him, the reader is taken through the timeline of Nic’s meth addiction and shown firsthand the consequences that meth results in for both the addict themselves and those who surround and care about him or her. It was heartbreaking at points, seeing the situation from a parent’s perspective. The entire book it just seemed unfair and selfish. It’s different seeing an addict through the eyes of his father rather than through his own eyes. The addiction that Nic developed to methamphetamine consumed his life. He was no longer himself, he was the drug. He didn’t care anymore about surfing and music and all that he loved. His life was taken over by his drug addiction. It’s scary how quickly and easily an addiction can happen. Especially with meth, which can become an addiction the first time it is used. Beautiful Boy taught me a lot about meth and gave it a face, a personality; life. It’s not just something that homeless people use as I thought before. It is available and not difficult for anybody to develop an addiction to methamphetamine. This fact is scary because anyone can be an addict, even those who don’t seem to fit the profile.   

"Beautiful Boy" Response 2: Parent-Child Relationships

Another issue that this book presented was that of parent child relationships as they are growing up. Throughout a child's life, their parents have a huge impact on their lives. Sheff struggles to come to terms with the fact that parents make mistakes and that it's not completely his fault for Nic becoming an addict. "'Families may well have caused pain for the addicts. They may well have failed the addicts in some significant way. (After all, what human relationship is perfect?) But addicts bring up these problems not to clear the air or with the hope of healing old wounds. They bring them up solely to induce guilt, a tool with which they manipulate others in pursuit of their continued addiction.'" (146) Upon reading this, which was written by Beverly Conyers, he is taught that although of course an addicts' family life had an impact on the person and addict they became in later life, they are not solely responsible. Blame is something that addicts and their families struggle with greatly. It's very difficult for their families to not place all the blame on themselves and for addicts to not place the blame on their family. Sheff and Nic's mother divorced when Nic was a very young age. This had a major impact on him, especially when his mom moved to New York and he had to spend his summers with her every year. "I know that the divorce and custody arrangement were the most difficult aspects of his childhood. Children of divorce use drugs and alcohol before the age of fourteen ore often than the children of intact families. In one study, 85 percent of children of divorce were heavy drug users in high school compared to 24 percent of those from intact families." (177) Divorce therefore has a major impact on children. Being from a divorced family, it is easy for me to relate to this. Divorce is really difficult for kids and though I was 12 when my parents divorced, it had a major impact on me and the person I am now. For me, I believe the struggles associated with this made me a stronger person, but for Nic that was not the case.

"Beautiful Boy" Response 1: Addiction

"When my child was born, it was impossible to imagine that he would suffer in the ways that Nic has suffered. Parents want only good things for their children. I was a typical parent who felt that this could not happen to us-not my son."  (16) The author of the book, Beautiful Boy, David Sheff struggles throughout the book to deal with just this- that addiction can happen to anyone. No one, despite race, religion, location, or any other societal factor, is invincible to addiction. "Addiction is an equal-opportunity affliction- affecting people without regard to their economic circumstance, their education, their race, their geography, their IQ, or any other factor." (178) That is the scary part of addiction, because it is in each person's hands whether or not they avoid addiction. As a parent, Sheff describes how difficult this is because you just have to hope that your child will make good choices. Through Sheff's eyes, I was able to see Nic's downfall and ultimate addiction to methamphetimine and how much he struggled to overcome this addiction. Many people refer to drug addiction as a disease, and ultimately it is. But what is so difficult to understand when your family member is an addict, is that it is a disease that they did to themselves. "People with cancer or emphysema or heart disease don't lie and steal. Someone dying of those diseases would do anything in their power to live. But here's the rub of addiction. By its nature, people afflicted are unable to do what, from the outside, appears to be a simple solution- don't drink. Don't use drugs. In exchange for that one small sacrifce, you will be given a gift that other terminally ill people would give anything for: life." (178) This book taught me a lot about addiction, a topic that I thought I knew a lot about already. In the ways that Sheff described it though, I was able to see how horrible of a disease it truly is. It will kill them, they can stop it, and a lot of the time don't see this until it's too late. Drug addiction clouds their minds, impairing them from deciding that they want to live in exchange for doing drugs.