So with absolutely zero inspiration running through my mind, I'm choosing a topic this week that is completely unrelated to my previous entries. This is simply a topic that has always bothered me and tends to draw some attention when I mention to others that I down right refuse to take them: pain killers.
The situation is usually sparked by something simple: I have a headache, my back hurts, so on and so forth and someone will offer me some Advil. I am one of the few people I know who, no matter how much pain I'm in, will refuse to take a pain killer. This bewilders most.
For starters, pain killers do not CURE anything. All they do is simply block the pain receptors that tell you you're feeling something. Your body is producing this pain for a reason; it's trying to signal something to you. Try listening to this pain, tracking it, and decoding the source of the problem. I'm a person with chronic headaches and if I chose to just numb the pain on every onset, I would never be able to effectively trace the source of the pain. However, if I choose to just take notes of the intensity and onset, I can begin to figure out what is exactly causing the pain and actually target some treatment to the root of the problem, ceasing the headaches. I can actually cure the problem, instead of just ignoring it. Imagine that.
Secondly, our society has become far too reliant on pain killers. A couple months ago, I severely injured my knee and went to the emergency room to get some help. Upon the doctor's haste, I was quickly written a prescription for Vicodin. That was it. No examination, nothing. A week later, when the pain persisted, I went to another doctor to see if I could actually get some real attention. This one actually took a closer look at my knee and turns out, I needed surgery. He was astonished that the other doctor just sent me away with pain killers. This was not something that should have ever been dealt with by numbing, which is what the pain killers were doing. Even doctors have become too familiar with pain killers; far too many send their patients away with a prescription for a heavy pain killer thinking that it effective addresses the problem.
Thirdly, pain killers cause addiction. When our bodies become accustomed to a little pill that makes all the pain go away, it gets upset when you stop taking it. Our bodies have the ability to create its own pain upon withdrawal in order to receive more of the medication that it craves. When we take too many pain killers, our bodies will become addicted, and I don't think I need to expand on the dangers of drug addiction. Common knowledge. Now granted, it takes a lot of pill popping for this to occur, but it still happens.
This is why I refuse to take pain killers. It's awful in the short run, but in the long run, I'm healthier.
End rant.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Practical Writing II
Ok, after reading what I wrote on my last post, I feel like I didn't really get my point across.
I wasn't necessarily saying that English course DON'T all together implement practical writing in their courses, but more so that this should be the emphasis and as of now, it is not. After all, when we go into our careers and use writing in the real world, it's not going to be to construct a character analysis. Let's be honest, after college, that kind of writing won't be relevant...unless you become a teacher or professor of this topic. But getting back to the point, I think it's odd that most English courses emphasize this type of writing, but not practical writing. Granted, I come from a smaller high school where the only English courses offered consisted of your basic 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English class or AP Lit and AP Lang. We didn't have any interesting writing classes; they simply taught us how to write a formal essay and so far, with my one semester of college, this is still the case. Maybe I'm basing my conclusion off of too narrow of evidence, but I feel like, for the most part, writing courses aren't emphasizing practical writing enough. I do agree that it's important to learn how to write formal essays. It teaches us how to think in a different, more in depth manner, but at the same time schools (at least in my case) are failing to help students use these writing they have established and transfer them to real life situations. So I'm not claiming that schools are all together disregarding practical writing, but they are definitely not emphasizing it enough. Personally, I think a shift in this emphasis would be worthwhile.
I wasn't necessarily saying that English course DON'T all together implement practical writing in their courses, but more so that this should be the emphasis and as of now, it is not. After all, when we go into our careers and use writing in the real world, it's not going to be to construct a character analysis. Let's be honest, after college, that kind of writing won't be relevant...unless you become a teacher or professor of this topic. But getting back to the point, I think it's odd that most English courses emphasize this type of writing, but not practical writing. Granted, I come from a smaller high school where the only English courses offered consisted of your basic 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English class or AP Lit and AP Lang. We didn't have any interesting writing classes; they simply taught us how to write a formal essay and so far, with my one semester of college, this is still the case. Maybe I'm basing my conclusion off of too narrow of evidence, but I feel like, for the most part, writing courses aren't emphasizing practical writing enough. I do agree that it's important to learn how to write formal essays. It teaches us how to think in a different, more in depth manner, but at the same time schools (at least in my case) are failing to help students use these writing they have established and transfer them to real life situations. So I'm not claiming that schools are all together disregarding practical writing, but they are definitely not emphasizing it enough. Personally, I think a shift in this emphasis would be worthwhile.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Practical Writing
So in high school and into college, we learn all of these new writing styles: research papers, argumentative essays, persuasive essays, character analysis, and so on, but when we get into the real world of writing, do we actually apply what it is that we have learned?
I started to think about this issue when I was reviewing some of my old high school essays. Example number one was a character analysis of Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby. Example number two was a college admission essay. This was actually an assignment for a class; the teacher told us to pick a college we were going to apply to and write an essay on the prompt they require and she would edit for us (and grade it) so we could use it for our future benefit. Now looking at these two pieces of writing, they were both great (if I do say so myself) and were graded accordingly, but the point that I'm trying to make is where the emphasis was placed. In high school, there is so much emphasis on writing essays like example number one, but real life writing is hardly ever touched on. I mean, honestly, when am I ever going to be required to write a character analysis in my career? Probably never; I can't think of a single example. Yet this was so heavily emphasized in high school. It's interesting to think that this is where importance is placed, whereas pieces of writing like a college admission essay, that have practical value, where just brushed passed. I got my A on this paper (and in the end actually received a scholarship offer from the school I submitted it to based solely on this essay) but it's actual writing approach or style is something we were never taught how to do. I just knew how to construct it. It's a curious thought. Maybe we should add a writing style to the high school requirement list: practical lifestyle writing. I think for the most part, most English classes give at least some assignments that cover this, but I'm not sure if anyone has ever defined it and I can almost guarantee that it's not emphasized more than the former styles. But maybe this is something the school systems should consider changing?
I started to think about this issue when I was reviewing some of my old high school essays. Example number one was a character analysis of Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby. Example number two was a college admission essay. This was actually an assignment for a class; the teacher told us to pick a college we were going to apply to and write an essay on the prompt they require and she would edit for us (and grade it) so we could use it for our future benefit. Now looking at these two pieces of writing, they were both great (if I do say so myself) and were graded accordingly, but the point that I'm trying to make is where the emphasis was placed. In high school, there is so much emphasis on writing essays like example number one, but real life writing is hardly ever touched on. I mean, honestly, when am I ever going to be required to write a character analysis in my career? Probably never; I can't think of a single example. Yet this was so heavily emphasized in high school. It's interesting to think that this is where importance is placed, whereas pieces of writing like a college admission essay, that have practical value, where just brushed passed. I got my A on this paper (and in the end actually received a scholarship offer from the school I submitted it to based solely on this essay) but it's actual writing approach or style is something we were never taught how to do. I just knew how to construct it. It's a curious thought. Maybe we should add a writing style to the high school requirement list: practical lifestyle writing. I think for the most part, most English classes give at least some assignments that cover this, but I'm not sure if anyone has ever defined it and I can almost guarantee that it's not emphasized more than the former styles. But maybe this is something the school systems should consider changing?
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