Gordon Parks writes about a small boy named Flavio who lived in a favela. The name of the poor town was Catacumba. it was not very livable for you and I lets say. the story goes on about garbage, remains and other things conjoining in the streets and sewer systems. Flavio like many others in the favela is sick, due to malnutrition, but yet is always a happy person, and cares about others more than himself or his health. With all these obsticals inFlavio's way, he still has a very optomistic look on life.
My response to this essay is, I feel fourtunate to be in the situation I am am in today. Flavio is a huge leader already, just by being the person he is. But imagine if he had the recources such as a normal house not in a favela or food, or money; all things us kids take for granite today. I feel like this is a very inspirational story that Parks wrote.
I think the government should pay for birth control for poor women, that do not have the means to pay for it themselves. Just because the women are poor does not mean they can not have sex. Birth control is needed by pretty much all sexually active women, and the government should help pay for those needs of people.
1. A man is going to do a study on poverty in the favela.His original assignment was to find a father and ask him questions. However he found a small boy who was horribly malnourished and decided to follow him anyways. He followed him to his home and saw the poverty he lived in having alot of family. He talked to the father the next day and found he owned a shop next to a clinic. He sells bleach and kerosene makes less that a dollar a day. Also because of his shop placement the clinic wouldnt see his son who suffered from malnutrition and violent coughing. The reporter and cameraman/interpreter took the young boy(flavio) to the doctor who told them he didnt have long to live and that he was a goner. Quite honestly that is a sad story and probably happens alot. Theres no real magic way to end poverty except for people to give hard work and dedication to the project and money! Also some families just lack the will power or are held up by some family members. 2. Thats insane pay poor people to take birth control, I mean who seriously runs this country! Have we become that lazy that we lack the will power to try and help people. You should never throw money at a problem unless its something really easily fixed, but still its going to be wasted. People should be responsible regardless of what incentives are offered.
1. Flavio's home is an incredibly sad story that focus's on the topic of poverty. Flavio's home tells the tale of how Parks feels about how individuals allow other people to live. He tells the story of Flavio, a 12 year old boy living in a slum called Catacumba in Brazil, who carries the responsibilities of an adult on his shoulders. He not only discusses how disappointing the environment around him is, but he then goes into specifics of how him and his family live and how difficult it is for him to find food for his family and provide for each and every one of them on a daily basis. On top of that, Flavio is sick, and slowly dying, but no matter how lousy he feels each day he still focus's on providing for his family and continuously puts them first. Parks went into Flavio's family as an observer and chose to write a story about the life they live. They were unsure of how to interpret his gesture of interest in their family, but with time welcomed him in despite their fathers objections. To me, the picture above represents Flavio and his siblings.
-I feel that poverty is one of the most depressing things to think about in the world. Its reality, but its saddening to think of how many people suffer due to it. Even more heartbreaking is the fact that its not just adults that have to suffer from it, but the children in the world that don't have much to survive on and are caught in the statistics too.
2. I don't think that the government should be paying the poor women for birth control. Homeless shelters exist all over the world, and if the womans situation is that bad, then she should check into the homeless shelter. I think that the government should potentially offer sex ed classes or wellness classes for women who are in unfortunate circumstances so that they may learn from it and make better choices to better their future. Stay teen states that "Three out of ten teenage girls in the United States get pregnant at least one before age 20 -- that amounts to 745,000 teen pregnancies each year" as well as "Almost 50% of teens have never considered how a pregnancy would affect their lives." http://www.stayteen.org/get-informed/default.aspx
"Creating Hope and Opportunity in Haiti for Extremely Poor Women and Their Families." BRAC Blog. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .
1. The essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home is about him visiting a favela in Brazil named Catacumba and meets a 12 year old boy named Flavio de Silva who changes his life. Parks visits this favela to interview a father with a family who is in poverty. They interviewed what he is going through and his beliefs on his situation. During their time there, they meet the 12 year old boy, Flavio, and they had a feeling that this boy would have a better story than any other father, because his legs were like sticks that were just screwed into his ankles. Parks and his partner visited Flavio's family and realized that Flavio's health was really bad. They took him to the clinic to try to get a doctor to help him but Flavio had sypmtoms of bronchial asthma, malnutrition and tuberculosis, which didn't give him much longer to live. In my opinion, poverty is probably the saddest thing in the world. It breaks my heart to hear about a family like Flavio's with barely any food and with sick siblings. Sometimes I wish I could save them all at the same time, but it is very hard. People do not realize what they take for granted. People think they need new clothes every week, new shoes, their nails and hair done, and etc. But they do not realize that there are people out there who need food and shelter to survive. I wish people all around the world could help end poverty so that there would be less families like Flavio's.
2. I understand that the problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions and that one controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control, but I disagree with this solution. I do not think it is right that women are not allowed to have as many kids as they want. It is their body, and they should be able to do whatever they want with it. I read in an article that "The Women's Health & Justice Initiative and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic condemn Representative John LaBruzzo's recent legislative plans to pay poor women to get sterilized and reward rich, educated people to have children. The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics." How can people do this to humanity? These people seem like people who would be for abortion. This is very wrong.
"A Feminist Response to LaBruzzo's Sterilization Plan | A Katrina Reader." Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Home Page. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .
1. Gordon Park’s Flavio is a story in which caught my interest and most of all inspired me and made me realize how lucky I really am. To summarize this story, it starts off talking about how a boy not too old is living in deep poverty. Him and his family are all underfed meaning malnourished. The young boy everyday walks around trying to find little pieces of to feed the family. Of course, he does not find much obviously since they are all malnourished. Then one day three men came walking. These men were generous enough to try and help young Flavio so decided to bring him to a doctor to be examined. With must devastation, the news came out to be that the young boy only had one year left to live. For some reason the Flavio was not too startled by these news. I believe he just wanted his family to be safe. This story really impacted me. After reading it I have become much more appreciative of what I get every day. I always have money in my pocket and food on the table every night. I realize I really have taken advantage of these things.
2. Poverty numbers are way too high. The pill meaning birth control would be the perfect solution to lowering the poverty numbers obviously. Everyone has the right to bear a child whether they mean to or not. I believe if the government would teach these people and introduce them to birth control a lot less would suffer and especially a lot less children would die every year. The government also needs to educate the poor on having children mostly so they won’t make the mistake of letting them die at a young age from diseases or purely starvation.
1) Gordon Parks wrote about a young boy named Flavio. Flavio lived in a favela called Catacumba. Mr. Parks spotted this boy and with his assignment being to find an impoverished father with a family so he followed the little boy to his home. He writes and observes this boy and his family also visiting his father at his work. The things that Parks discovered about povernment i can only imagine! My personal response to the essay would be WOW! I could not imagine seeing what Gordon saw on his journey through the favela. People dont realize that the USA isnt the only country out there and everything isnt like what we have. Third world countries all over the wold suffer and i just wish there was more we as a country could/ would to for them! https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy53kEvW6MqlsQnWfh__pZIcegq9pdo4DpQlee0C87UhieJGknvrqrw-Dtds83XLSJXbmglFHLKUjg3SzodFuOtIIc9CN4czy6lPVeYPUq7di_qAA301Tn7pFoMxgvw4rnWPdoHk5h8uE/
2)The argument about paying poor women in order to use birth control i think is a little much. Yes women i think need to be protected and use safe sex techniques if they arent looking to be pregnant but just because they are poor doesnt mean that they NEED birth control. There are other cheap methods to safe sex and can be used if they choose that in their life style. I dont think that the argument giving them money would stand a fight because what income does a person have to be considered poor enough to be pretty much given birth control? People can have safe sex without birthcontrol.
1. Gordon Parks' Flavio's Home starts in Catacumba a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gordon Parks and Jose Gallo are looking to interview poverty stricken fathers for Life magazine. They meet a young boy who looks starved yet smiles at Parks. Parks decides to follow the boy to his home. The boy lives in a small shack and when Parks and Gallo enters the shack they meet the boy's (Flavio da Silva) brothers and sisters through the interpretation of Gallo. The children bicker and fight, and Flavio cooks and cleans. After it gets dark the parents arrive, Jose da Silva and Nair his pregnant wife. They ate what little they had and Flavio offers some to Parks and Gallo, they refuse knowing how little they have. Parks and Gallo ask Jose da Silva for permission to photograph his family, which he takes some time to agree to. As they were leaving, Parks notices Flavio's violent coughing. Gallo mentions to Parks as they head back to the hotel how dangerous it is to stay in the favelo at night. When they get to the hotel on the rich side of town, Parks exclaims how the da Silva's shack could fit in a corner of his hotel room and the steak dinner could feed the da Silva's for three days. The next day they return to the favela where he notices the long lines for the sole water spigot and bathroom. He met Jose da Silva at his shop where he sells kerosene and bleach. They kept going until they saw Flavio and followed him. After Flavio finished his work Parks took him to the clinic to check on his cough. After two hours they are seen by the doctor who tells Parks, in english so Flavio wouldn't understand, that Flavio is dying and probably doesn't have much longer to live, maybe a year. Parks didn't tell Flavio about what the doctor had told him and repeats to Flavio that he'll be alright. This story was very sad. Reading the details presented in the story was hard and really disheartens me to read about the decay of human life in some parts of the world while in others people are doing more than well enough.
2. Controversial proposal: Government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. Reasons why this proposal could work is that having the choice to use birth control or learn about the contraceptive devices that are available are ways to decrease the number of unplanned pregnancies and therefore ways to decrease the death rates of kids that die by starvation and other painful deaths. This also saves the lives of the people practicing birth control methods from dangerous abortions and dying from giving birth which would leave the kids she already has and the child she had alone or just one person to care for them.
Poverty. Digital image. Youthnoise.com. Youth Noise. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. . "AFP: Give Poor Women Birth Control, Education: World Bank." Google. AFP, 10 July 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .
My first impression of Flavio’s Home was that it seemed to be a very sad story. It spoke of the horrors of poverty and Flavio’s strength to survive and even the courage to accept death without even thinking about himself but of his brothers and sisters. Flavio’s Home is about the life of a 12 year old boy who has the responsibility of an adult, is able to accept this responsibility and still remain vibrant and hopeful even thought he is suffering form physical illness, poverty, overwork and worry. Throughout the story Gordon Parks explains in detail Flavio’s life, but the thing that seemed most significant to him was how Flavio was able to still smile even though he has such a hard life. While being only a child himself Flavio is able to care for his younger brothers and sisters by preparing food, clean their home and even instructing them to wash themselves. While Flavio and his brothers and sisters accepted Gordon Parks presence their father was not too pleased. He viewed them skeptically as he was not sure of their intentions. I think a lot of times people who are in similar positions have a problem with trusting other people to help them, out of fear that they are doing it out of faulty intentions.
I think that education would be a phenomenal way to move forward in reducing the amount of children born out of ignorance. I also think that perhaps the financial incentives would be good seeing as how I know from people that I knew who were considered poor, who would have used birth control had they been able to afford it.
1) In the essay titled Flavio's Home, three journalists decided to venture to the poorest part of Brazil. While walking around the busy streets of Caracas, they encountered a little boy by the name of Flavio. Flavio looked to them like a boy who only had a shirt, skin and bones; immediatly the three journalists felt bad for him. They decided that they were going to get him some help by taking him to see a doctor, but before they could do this they went to see Flavio's family in there makeshift home. After watching the de Silva family eat dinner the three journalists returned to their hotel outside of the slums. The next morning the journalists and Flavio went to the local doctor to examine Flavio's health. When they got there they had to wait almost two hours before he was even examined. Once he was in the doctors room, the doctor only spoke English so that only the journalists could understand what he was saying. The doctor told them that Flavio was terminally ill and that he had roughly a year, if that, to live. Once they left the doctors office, Flavio asked the journalists what the doctor said was wrong with him. They told Flavio that everything was going to be fine and that there was nothing seriously wrong with him. Though, Flavio knew the truth and only asked the men if they could make sure that his family was healthy and survived. This essay made me more aware of all cases of poverty that the world is facing, not just in the United States. I admire the individuals who decided to go over to Brazil and try to help someone that they didn't know or have any relation towards them. If more people could act like this, their attitudes could become more compassionate towards the poor in other countries. Also, listening to the graphic detail and looking at the picture breaks my heart in the sence that there are children who look like that in the world when people waste so much food.
2) Two reasons why this is contreversial are because birth control has many physical and mental health risks. Women who take birth control have a higher risk of getting breast cancer and oral cancer. The government should not be allowed to bribe women into taking something that may hurt them in the long run. Another reason is that governments should not be able to bribe women because every women has the right to choose what type of contreceptive that they wish to use.
1)Gordon Parks’ essay about Flavio Da Silva was very empowering and made me think. Parks explains about how he was sent to Catacumba, Brazil to write a piece for Life. However, in his adventures, he stumbled upon Flavio. Flavio took parks back to where he lived, where parks realized that Flavio was living a very unhealthy life, was malnourished, and lived with 7 siblings. Flavio cooks for his family with very little food and resources, while Parks is there. Parks also writes about how the children were left to eat the little amount of food they each received with their fingers, since the parents were given a utensil and a plate. Flavio had an awful cough among other sicknesses, so Parks and Gallo took him the village’s doctor. After the doctor looked at Flavio, all the doctor said was that nothing could be done for him, because other kids were in the same predicament and that there wasn’t enough money to help him. The doctor also practically told Parks that Flavio was going to die soon. Flavio said how he was unafraid of death but that he worried for his other siblings if he were to die.
This story was very inspiring and showed me just how much people care for others more than themselves. Flavio was in a horrible position being a child of eight and having practically no money whatsoever. This is a very emotional thing, because Flavio does more for his sisters and brothers than he does for himself. It takes a lot of power for someone to do such a thing, because the majority of people act in self interest in order to get the most for themselves. I don’t know if I would be able to be as strong as him in a situation like that, because I have never had to experience it. In my life, I try to help people, especially people like Flavio who are so unfortunate that they don’t have much of anything. After reading this essay , I feel even more impelled to do so.
2)The government is in control of many factions of our lives. Many of the ways the government controls our lives is for the better good of every citizen. I believe that by the government paying poor people to use birth control, they are in turn helping the poor people get themselves out of poverty to a point that they can sustain their own lives. First of all, giving incentive to poor people to use birth control would help them get themselves out of poverty, because they wouldn’t have to spend money on a child. On average, the cost of raising a child is more than $131,000; Money that people in poverty don’t have (Cost). Also, about 24,000 children die each year as a result of poverty (Poverty Facts). As a result of the government offering incentive to poor people to use birth control, and thus not have children, the lives of those people and thei potential children will be much better.
"Cost of Raising a Child."BabyCenter. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator.
"Poverty Facts and Stats."Global Issues. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. Http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats.
1. The essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home was a very heartfelt piece. A young reporter sent to interview a poor father and his family in the deep slums of Brazil. She ended in Catacumba where she found a young boy named Flavio de Silva. Catacumba was an extremely poor town with tiny shacks that were held together by old planks of crumbling wood and a tin roof that was almost entirely rusted. The shack, like all the others were leaning down the side of a mountainside. Flavio looked just like the shack he lived in. he was frail with sticks leg and sunken eyes from starvation and jaundiced coloring. Gordon had a connection with him at first sight. The boy was carrying a tine of water on his head and had stopped to take a breather. The boy as exhausted as he was still managed to give a smile to Gordon. Gordon follows to the boy home to interview his father and family for her piece. When she got there she encountered many disturbing things. There were seven more children at home that were left to watch over themselves. Flavio was the care taker of his family at only age twelve! Gordon also witnessed how they reused water. They used the same water they cooked with to bath everyone in, and then used the same water to scrub the nasty dirt floors. As they spent the rest of the evening their Gordon would watch as Flavio almost choked to death coughing. She knew something was wrong and when the parents finally arrived home she asked why they do not take him to the doctor. Flavio father told Gordon that the doctors do not do anything for his children because he built his store in front of them. After leaving the shack and arriving to the nice hotel Gordon decided she would take Flavio to the doctor. The next day she took him to the doctors and found out Flavio was dying and would probably only live another year. There was nothing the doctors could do for the boy. When Flavio asked how it went Gordon didn’t have the heart to tell him and only said, “You’ll be alright Flavio”. The shocking thing was Flavio didn’t care about himself. His powerful words at the end said “I’m not scared of death. It’s my brothers and sisters I worry about.” My outlook on this story was, “ I didn’t realize how lucky I am.” Here I am complaining because I didn’t want chicken for supper, and children like Flavio would be grateful to even have meat for a meal. Stories like these are either hidden from the public or denied by the public. They are hidden because countries don’t want to show their week communities that cannot provide for themselves and are seen as weak. Stories such as these are also denied by the public such as American because it inhumane to even think people live like that. It makes people that are well off look greedy and Americans don’t like to be looked at that way, so they ignore the problem thinking it never exists; so they don’t have to feel bad or feel greedy. As sad as that sounds it’s true in a lot of cases. What really got to my heart in this story was the fact the Flavio didn’t care he was dying, he only thought of his family and how he feared for them if he did die. This story showed true devotion to family which I think should be looked at as an example of how you should respect your family today.
2. Although I think the government is going down the right track I don’t think it’s a good idea to pay women to take birth control. I don’t think paying women to take birth control will really make women stop, if they can already get money on welfare. Americans are greedy if you say you’ll pay them to do something, they’ll make another claim to say they need more. I think paying for birth control would only lead Americans further into welfare support. Even if you pay a women to take birth control that doesn’t mean that she will do it. So what happens when she has the money and gets pregnant? Wouldn’t that be a waste of tax payer’s money? The bigger problem is a lot of women can’t afford birth control and that what gets them in the situations they are in. I think birth control should be free, hand them to anyone to encourage them to use it. This gives the choice to the women and if a woman makes the choice they are more likely to stick to it. Even women with jobs have trouble paying for contraceptives simply because insurance won’t cover it. If women didn’t have to worry about paying for birth control I think women would take every advantage of it. Going through high school most of my friends that ended up pregnant said they couldn’t afford birth control when I asked if they were on anything. Even I have had trouble paying for birth control some months and had to have my parents chip in. Do you know how embarrassing that is? I was almost to the point where I said; okay well I’m just going to not get it this month. I don’t understand why the government can’t just have pills for free. They give out free condoms but if a boy refuses to wear one, what is a woman to do? Providing free birth control for women gives them the power to control their situation. It there was free birth control I think you would see a huge drop in teen pregnancies and since teen pregnancies unusually lead to welfare and poor families I think it would only benefit the communities.
1. In this story, a man named Gordon Parks was sent to Brazil as a reporter to find a story on an impoverished father and his family. Gordon ended up doing his story on a young boy named Flavio he came across while exploring Catacumba. He was invited into Flavio's home and witnessed how horrible his lifestyle was and how he was basically in charge of taking care of the family, including his many brothers and sisters. Flavio was severely malnourished and overworked and was becoming quite sick because of it. His father was a strict traditional man who expected a lot from Flavio, and Flavio feared him. Gordon and his partner were introduced to these impoverished peoples horrible living conditions and watched hopelessly knowing there was little they could do to help. however, they managed to get Flavio to a doctor after they noticed his extreme coughing attacks happen frequently. The doctor had nothing but bad news for Flavio and his condition but Gordon kept it from him, knowing he was not going to live much longer.
This essay brings out a lot of emotion for me. It's hard to imagine that people actually live this way everyday in some parts of the world, when I'm living in such luxury without even realizing and appreciating it. Gordon kept mentioning how Flavio managed to keep a constant smile on his face no matter how much he was suffering and how bad his condition was. I find it hard to be happy sometimes even with all the things I am blessed with. It seems that those living modestly are always more appreciative of the things they have and even seem to be happier than most rich people. However, I think it's very sad that even after all the hard work Flavio put in to take care of his family, he was still going to die within a year and there's nothing anyone can do to help.
2. To be honest, I think this proposed method of paying women to take birth control is simply unrealistic. The government does not have the money to waste on women who cannot control themselves sexually and are so careless with their own and their children's future. I read an article where State Representative John LaBruzzo proposed an idea to pay poor women $1,000 to have their tubes tied. He stated that women living on welfare and food stamps are more likely to reproduce than women who are financially stable and so he wants to reduce the number of births by poor women. This seems completely unrealistic to me because not many women would even agree to this and where would we get the money? It just seems like an overall bad idea to me. I found an interesting statistic that convinced me that paying women to get their tubes tied is completely unrealistic was the fact that 52% of all abortion in the U.S were committed by women under 25. This proves that having your tubes tied will not solve anything because not many women under 25 are ready to get their tubes tied, they are most likely planning on having kids in the future once they're older and ready to be a parent.
Waller, Mark. "LaBruzzo considering Plan to Pay Poor Women $1,000 to Have Tubes Tied | - NOLA.com." Nola.com. The Times Picayune, 23 Sept. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .
1) Gordon Parks’ essay Flavio’s Home is a very moving piece. It is about a young boy that lives in a massive slum in Brazil. Flavio lives in an extremely small shack with his three siblings and his mother and father. His home life is very chaotic due to the small living quarters and his sisters fighting all the time. Despite all of the chaos in his life this twelve year old boy shows an amazing amount of responsibility and maturity. He is responsible for cooking, cleaning, and looking after his siblings. It seems like he does not even know what poverty is and goes about his life as if he has all that he could want. To me this essay was very moving. Gordon Parks went into the middle of this slum and made his essay as personal as possible. We learn in classes and from news stories that these places exist but we never give them a second thought after that. With essays like this one it is easy to become emotional and become attached because it is written on a personal level and tells a true and sad story. 2) I do believe that there should be some usage of contraceptive by women like Favio’s mother. But I think it would be impossible for all of the women in poverty to take one little pill every day. It would reduce the amount of poverty though. Favio’s family struggles to feed all of their children because there are four of them and another is coming because his mother is pregnant. Granted if they only had four children they would have more food to eat and less to worry about. But I do not believe that people should be obligated to have as many children as they please. It is our god given right to have as many children as we want.
1. This essay starts by describing the initial encounter with Flavio and his family. Flavio is carrying water up a hill and they follow him to his house. EVerything that Flavio has falls well below the bare minimum. He uses a box to have the men sit on and the only other recognizable furniture is a sagging bed. Flavio is clearly poverty stricken. Flavio is clearly in a actegory of the poorest people on the planet. He uses a hole in the ground as a toilet and lives in a mud hut. Only minutes away are the houses of the rich, large white buildings, very nicely furnished. But Flavio lives in extreme poverty, along with poverty comes violence. In Flavio's home there is no shortage of violence and fighting, but the other members of his family are so over exerted from being famished that they do not even react when 'normal' people would be worried. Living in poverty can make a person cold, when you are forced to deal with death and famine every day one gets used to it.
2. Paying women to take birth control is very unethical. It is an unalienable right for a woman to have as many children as she wants regardless of financial standing. It is a right granted to women by our constitution. Another reason that this is a bad idea is because it would take a greater amount of government funding than we are allocating toward poverty now. The women would not take the birth control unless the financial incentive was larger than what they can make off of welfare. Which would defeat the purpose of reallocating funds to pay for the birth control and also paying women to take it. I do believe that birth control should be free to those women who would like to use it, but I do not think that paying women to take birth control would ever work out for the better.
"How Do We Stop Poverty in the World, If It Is a Matter for the Government and Overpopulation? | All Best News." All Best News in the World. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .
1. Gordon Park's Flavio was a story that inspires and opens the reader eyes. Flavio is a story of a young boy living in absolute poverty with his family who are all malnurished. A daily routine for young Flavio is to scrap up any little bit of food that he could find to feed his family. He did this same thing everyday. Three camera men found Flavio and wanted to help him, so they decided to take him to the doctor to have him checked out. After Flavio had been examined, they find out that he only has one year to live due to his condition. Instead of being terrified, all this young man wanted was for his family to be safe and taken care of. The other thing in this story that bothered me was when Flavio could look up from where he was living and see where all the rich homes were on the hill. I think that some of the more fortunate forget that poverty is a major problem. This story really is a wake up call for us to make a difference in the poverty in our community, and in our world.
2. Birth control would be an answer to stop the poverty numbers from climbing, but it is every humans right to have a child. I personally think that if it is free that many of those who live in poverty would never want to bring a child into that situation. Some of those in poverty also barely have enough food to feed themselves let alone a child. I feel that people need to think ahead and see how the child would be living before they would bring them into that environment.
1. In his essay, Flavio'sHome, Gordon Parks writes about a little 12 year old boy that changed Parks' life after a trip to Catacumba, Brazil. This little boy's name is Flavio da Silva. He and a partner were sent there to do a story on an impoverished father with a family. They then had to examine all of his finances and feelings and beleifs. Along the way, they found somebody even more interesting. they came across flavio and instantly notices how malnourished he was. They compared his legs to sticks that were just screwed into his ankles. But somehow through the malnourishment and the pain he managed to look at Parks and his partner and give them a big smile. The two men knew that Flavio was a better story than any father. They followed him home to his shack which he shared with two parents and seven other children. Parks and Gallo observed the way they had been living as well as how bad Flavios health was. They took him to the local clinic but the doctor was no help. He told them that Flavio had sypmtoms of bronchial asthma, malnutrition and tuberculosis and didn't give him much longer to live.
After reading this essay my heart was broken. I always knew that poverty still existed, but I never realized that it was still this severe in some parts of the world. I wish there was something that I could do to help these people out. They have no way to get out without anybody elses help. Even though Falvio's dad worked, they still barely had enough food to feed the family. Some people might not even be able to eat everyday. I think we take the things that we have for granted. Some of us see ourselves as middle or even low class. But in their eyes we are living like royalty. As a matter of fact they probably can't even picture some of the luxuries we have. Even if it is just a bed and a blanket. Knowing that there are kids like Flavio running around makes me furious that nobody helps them. Poverty needs to come to an end.
Make Poverty History. Photograph. Wikimedia. 2 July 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. .
2. According to the millenium campaign, poverty will come to an end in the year 2015. Poverty has been a deadly disease that has overcome the world for hundreds and thousands of years and there has not yet been a cure for it. While some places have been able to overcome poverty and had the chance to flourish, many places are still being held down by this nasty disease. So how is it that all of the sudden we have found some miracle cure for poverty that will take action within the next five years, when nobody has been able to put an end to it up until now. Could the magical cure be paying women to take birth control? I think not. I also think that is one of the stupidest and most absurd ideas I have ever heard. When you first think about it, it might sound like a good idea. The less children a women has, the less people that are suffering from poverty. But if the Government has the money to pay women just to take a little pill, why don't they have the money to just help them in general. The director of the millenium project, Jeffrey Sachs, suggests that there are five ways that we are going to acheive the end of poverty. Boost agriculture, Improve basic health, Invest in education, Power transport and communications, and lastly safe drinking water and sanitation. While birth control may help slow down poverty, it will never be able to defeat it. If people would help those in need, poverty would have been in history already.
End Poverty 2015 We Are the Generation That Can End Poverty. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .
1. The essay entitled, Flavio's Home,by Gordon Parks is about a severely poor 12 year old boy in a slum called Catacumba in Brazil. Gordon Parks has been sent to do an essay for Life and ended up finding Flavio. Flavio was malnourished and severely sick and was working extremely hard when they found him. He showed them the shack where he lived and introduced the men to his family. He had many brothers and sisters and his mom was pregnant with another child. They barely had enough to eat for all of them and were all severely malnourished. Since Flavio had an awful cough and seemed very sick, Parks and Gallo took him to the clinic that was in his village. In the doctors office, the doctor told them the boy had maybe a year to live and there wasn't much he could do because many children were like this and there was no funding to prevent this. The men decided not to tell Flavio but it was as if he knew because he stated, "I'm not afraid of death. It's my brothers and sisters I worry about. What would they do?". This is an extremely saddening and upsetting story. It's even worse that there's many more children out there living like Flavio. I've always wanted to help as many of these boys and girls as I can but I don't know where to start. I just don't understand how we live in all this excess but yet we can't seem to give a little of our time or money to help all of these sickly poor people. I plan on doing something about this in the future.
2. I do not think the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. If they're going to give them money it should not be for them to use on birth control. I think the government should provide the women with free birth control and education about sex so they can take it or use it by choice. It is not the government's business whether or not these women choose to use birth control. If the government educates these poor woman and possibly provides free birth control for them, then I believe this will fix many of the problems with poverty and multiple children. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy says, 'two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavioral effects.' Many of the participants in the programs delayed or reduced sexual activity, reduced their number of sexual partners or increased condom or contraceptive use." (kirby) If it has worked for our teens, why don't we bring it into the poverished areas?
Kirby D, Emerging Answers 2007: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2007.
1. The essay about Flavio's home was about a poor boy in Caraccas, Brazil who lived in a shack with his poor family. Three men decided to film the people of this poor area; they met Flavio de Silva and immediately felt bad for this boy because of the poor condition that he was in. The three men were invited to the home of Falvio and they were introduced to his brothers and sisters as well as his parents. The three men could easily tell that the family was Mal-nourished so they decided that they were going to take Flavio to the doctors and try to help him out. When they got to the doctors they had to wait for two hours just to see the doctor. After seeing the doctor, the three men were informed that Flavio had about one year left to live in his life. Flavio asked the men what the doctor told them but they told him that he was going to be OK. Flavio only asked that his family remain alive and looked after. This essay was something that enjoyed reading because it left an impact on me. Flavio has nothing but family and the cloths on his back and he still only cares about the well-being of his family instead of his own health. This shows how appreciative this boy is and how he can have nothing and still remain happy. People need to start to live life like Flavio and enjoy the small things in life.
2. This issue is controvetial because the goverment should not be able to tell who has to take contreceptives. One reason is because everyone has the right to practice safe sex in their own way. Birth control also provides a health risk to many women including the very deadly breast cancer. Another reason that this is controversial is because this will cause a divide between the poor women and the upper class women.
"Oral Contraceptives and Cancer Risk: Q & A - National Cancer Institute." National Cancer Institute - Comprehensive Cancer Information. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. .
1. The essay of Flavio's Home by Gordon Parks is a very disturbing story. It is about a young women sent to the slums of Brazil to interview fathers that live in poverty and ask them how much money they make, how it affects them and their families, what their dreams are and what frustrations they have. She meets this young boy about 12 years old named Flavio, and he takes her and her friends back to his shack of a home. They then meet all of his brothers and sisters while Flavio is cooking the little food that they have... rice and beans. Then mother and father then come home and get fed first with plates and forks while the children have to eat with their fingers. The children are also bathed with the same water the food was cooked in and then the left over water is reused. Gordon then takes Flavio to the doctor to see if they could help,but since Flavio's father built a store in front of the doctor's building they refuse to help his children and the doctor pretty much tells Gordon that Flavio has a year to live and that he is well done.
- My response is that reading this story really made me think. We Americans have it so good in our country especially compared to countries that have very poor areas such as Brazil. Yes America does have some poor areas, but nothing like this. These people are dying of starvation and the kids in the family have to take care of each other as if they were the parents. I think that world poverty is something that is very terrible and that people should do all they can too help, even if it is donating something as little as a can of soup, anything would help these people. I think by reading this you see how some Americans take advantage of what they have, driving around Range Rovers and spending their money on things that aren't essential to life, when people is these situations would kill for just 5 dollars. It is sad how Flavio's father only gets paid 75 cents a day where some Americans get paid over 300,000 a year. I believe that the world should do everything in their will power to help one another.
2. I do not personally agree that the government should pay poor women to use birth control, I think that is should essentially be free, which it is at some health clinics. Some women have in their mindset that if they have a lot of kids they will get more welfare money and that is just a wrong way to think about life because those kids will most likely live in poverty still. I believe that birth control is good to keep poor women from getting an unwanted pregnancy and it is also a good use for population control. The world is growing in population is growing with three people per second, and in the past 20 years we have seen an increase of 33 percent in population growth and it is continuing to sky rocket everyday. I do not believe the government has the money and should pay poor people to use birth control because we as a country are in debt and should be using it to fight worse poverty in our country. Like I said, some birth controls offer free birth control and I believe that is a good solution to take into consideration.
1. This is a photo taken by Gordon Parks of Flavio. This picture says it all. In two paragraphs summarize the essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home and then write a personal response to the essay.
2. The problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions. One controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. Argue for or against this proposal, state at least two reasons with supporting evidence. Be sure and cite any sources you use.
1) My outline to change the nuclear arms race to a peace race is quite simple I feel. Since countries continue to spend billions of dollars on making, testing, storing nuclear weapons I would make a bill that states you must spend more money on peace matters than nuclear matters. I would make this a world wide "bill/rule" and in time after each country wanting to help each other we will form bonds and make the world a more peaceful place. Either that or another outline would be NO nuclear weapons are allowed at all! http://rypoc.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/iran-and-its-nukes/
2) Martin Luther King speaks of two realms the internal and external. The Internal is the realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, morals, and religion. The external is the complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. I feel that we as a nation need to stop being so material and start being more internal. Before we had all these technological advances people were a lot more internal and didnt cloud their minds with all the external "stuff". We as a nation need to all work together and I feel a huge thing is the media they are the ones clouding our minds with all the material things. We need to realize that our lives arent just all these inventions and that there is more to life than technology. Were did our morals, goals, and religion go?
1. Peace on earth. What a topic. Peace on earth is a common ground topic that most people wish to achieve but seems to be the impossible, but how can it be reached? Well since I was little, I've been taught a traditional Christmas song that states all the common names of Christ, the one that comes to my mind is: "Prince of Peace." So to me, it seems that the only way to reach the peace on earth that most people want to obtain is by Christ coming to earth. Simply because it would take much greater of a power then human beings have in order to reform the entire world. The day that he returns to earth is the day that literally "Peace will be on Earth." and until that day we will have to do the best we can. Until that day the closest we can get it by accepting Christ as your Savior. That benefit tends to make people happier too. The picture above symbolizes the two hands of Christ holding the world in his hands. Only he has the power that is needed to completely reshape the world.
2. King discusses the internal and the external realms of life. The internal is the realm of spiritual ends that are expressed in things such as art, literature, morals, and religion. The external realm is composed of complex devices, techniques and mechanisms by means in which we live. Personally, Im not sure that balancing the viewpoints of science and spirit are even possible. Typically the facts of the spiritual life and the scientific view point are differed in facts or opinions so to find some common ground is rather difficult. A person who believes in the scientific stand point doesn't usually agree with the spiritual side, and vice versa.
1. Personally i think that it is impossible for any country to want to give up their nukes but thats besides the point. I could make it so that nukes are obsolete by making so much nuclear defence that their redundant. That sounds good to me or you could hold world summits every year campaigning countries to stop making nukes. You could make countries sign a petition to get rid of their nuclear subs and reactors and nukes. We could all take the pledge to go green and run on sunlight:).UN is now actally trying to petition all governemnts to try and lessen the amount of nukes.
2. Hes talking about how much our technology has advanced and how its much easier to kill people innocent people then it was. Put watchful people incharge and regulate as much as possible. We can get more in touch with religion by putting up more laws not prohibiting it.
1. Transforming the nuclear arms race to a peace race is not an easy task. A way for this task to be expedited is to prevent nuclear materials and technology for building nuclear weapons from being spread. Each country (or at least the major countries) take steps to remove the materials and the technology from every country. The NTI advocates this resolution as a step to stop these materials from falling into the wrong hands and sine the NTI is run by a diverse board of directors the organization does not have an agenda to use the materials to strengthen their individual countries. "About NTI." Nuclear Threat Initiative: Home Page. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. . Explosion of an Atomic Bomb. Digital image. Inviro.org.au. Environment Society of Australia, 19 Sept. 2005. Web. 7 Apr. 2010. .
2. Martin Luther King Jr.'s realms that he mentions in his essay are the internal and external. The internal realm is that which reflects the soul and the things that enrich the soul. The external realm is most material belongings. A way to balance these two realms is using the material belongings to help others therefore enriching the soul. If the material belongings can't be used to help others the person has to contemplate over whether the item will serve a purpose that transcends the basic quality of owning it.
1. The question for this topic is hard to answer, I see peace not exactly the same as the book described. In today’s society even in the past, we try to create a peaceful world. History in books and movies describe peaceful as a world such as Utopia, the beautiful, the impossible. This world has not and will not ever exist. With today’s technology and new creations I don’t think the world will ever get rid of the nuclear demons they have created. I think America as well as the other nations are too busy competing with one another about the future that they forget to focus on the present. Well, news flash the present determines the future. Instead of focusing on disarming the nuclear weapons we should focus on other things, a tactic that America has been using is the threat of nuclear retaliation in the event of conflict, instead of actually enforcing it. This defense has helped keep governments throughout the world in check. Although there are many smaller conflicts around the world, we have not seen anything approaching a “World War” in over fifty years. i believe that the U.S. strategy on nuclear weapons has helped to promote this limited warfare into smaller regional scrimmages that are going on today. It is only the threat of these weapons that we can maintain a strong defense to keep as peaceful of a world as possible. The sinful nature of man is in direct contradiction to peaceful existence. For over two thousand years man has been at war with itself, and to think the elimination of nuclear weapons will create an Utopia of peace is fool -hardy.
2. We are making advances in science to the point that we have to ask ourselves, “Is this morally correct, even though we have the power to do something should we do it?” In Martin Luther King’s essay he explains that there is two ways in which everyone lives, internally and externally. The internal deals with morality and separating what right and what’s wrong. External deals with the materialistic and scientific progress. He explains that we are living too much of an external life that we are losing our internal life. We are losing our morality. This is hard to create a balance and has always been an issue. Stem cell research is just one example of many topics that relate to internal and external decisions. I think the only way we can create a balance of each is to have meetings of debates. Let the debates point of the pro and cons to each and if it passes, set certain rules and regulations for each advance taken. I think we should have a “watch dog” group specially assigned to each scientific or technological advance to make sure each is not exceeding to interfere with morality.
^^ "Howstuffworks "How the Nuclear Arms Race Works"" HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! Web. 07 Apr. 2010. .
1. In his essay, Where Do We Go From Here: Community or Chaos? Martin Luther King says that we mount a peace initiative. In order to transform the nuclear arms race into a peace race, it's going to take a lot of work. We need to find a way to combine as many countries as possible that also want world peace. First off, we can all try to make more organizations to inspire action for peace in our world such as the "IPI Core Program." This program stands for International Peace Initiativesm which is "a global network of individuals and organizations seeking innovative and alternative means of overcoming the devastation of disease, conflict, and poverty in the world today." Also, we can get schools to teach students how important world peace is so that they can teach the next generation the same thing. It is not going to be an easy accomplishment, but if our country tries to gather as many countries together to work together, we may have a chance for a better future!
IPI ~ International Peace Initiatives | IPI ~ International Peace Initiatives. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. .
2. Martin Luther King talks about "bridging our gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress." The two realms he talks about are the spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals and religion, and complex devices, techniques, mechanism, and instrumentalities. As a nation, we can somehow balance our scientific and technological abundance with living a moral and spiritual life. There are many technological things that have been invented that have affected our life. For example, video games have inflluenced kids to use guns and knives as toys. People use ipods to listen to songs that are racist, graphic, and discriminating. More people should take their kids to church instead of letting them get into things that will get them into trouble.
