26.2.11

Commemorating the Holocaust

Just yesterday the Gifted and Talented II class travelled down to the nation's capital in order to venture through the building dedicated to the commemoration of one of the world's largest and most gruesome genocides: the Holocaust. Fundamentally, the Holocaust was the mass slaughtering of Nazi Germany's social and political enemies between the years of 1933 and 1945. Through four stories of architecture, the nasty tales of the German slaughtering of its own people are told. As we made our way to Washington DC, I imagined that the museum would be much like an experience (application) through the Holocaust, as opposed to an informational 'walk-through' (knowledge). As you begin your journey, you are given a small card with the name of one person, who ventured individually through the hardships of the Holocaust. After this, you and a myriad of others are quickly crammed into a rustic style elevator and pulled up to the fourth floor. From here, you are able to learn about the atrocities, which Nazi  Germany forced on its own people and, on the citizens of neighboring nations. By the time you finish your journey on the first floor, not only do you have an urbane knowledge of what happened in Germany during the Second World War, but you are able to mold a part of your mind that expresses emotion towards what happened a a whole. Personally, to see Europe in such a barbaric state was truly sad. Before this experience, I never actually pondered the fact that Europe could be so deprived of its sophistication and intellect. In general, Nazi Germany followed a less beneficial path in its quest to solve its internal problems. The Holocaust Museum was an example as to the prospect of how low the human race can really sink.


Visit the USHMM Website!

3.2.11

I'm Back!

Over the past month, I was busy researching and creating my definition for humanity. Instead of combining the realms of science and religion, I decided to research and present the patterns and attributes that make us human. With this information, I was able to derive my own definition for both human and humanity:


A human is a social animal, who is reliant off of its intelligence, which it has acquired through its environment and its genetics. Its intelligence and its environment guide its perspective on its culture and its individuality.


Humanity is a collection of perspectives on reality and other social and intelligent beings (humans). No matter how different or alike our views on humanity or reality may be, they still contribute to the overall picture of what humans stand for. Humans are able to create, discover, invent, think, explore, destroy, achieve, entertain, and live. In our environment, we are the outliers (in both good and bad contexts); that is what makes us so exceptional.


The definitions that I derived were not valued in the least by the "general people." Overall, these definitions, these combining forces that bound my research to one strong point, were overlooked. By the end of the project, I was disappointed, not by the work of my other peers, but by the prospect that my work was considered to be substandard. Initially, I looked forward to this challenging project; I now see the disdain in tackling such an immense scheme.